National Day Address by Representative Elliott Charng
The 10th of October is the 109th National Day of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Over the past year, we have experienced a lot of challenges. In Australia, we witnessed unprecedented bushfires. Now we are facing COVID-19 pandemic; its impact is also huge and unprecedented. It has even changed our daily lives. Today we are here to use different ways to celebrate this year’s National Day.
I would like to take this opportunity to pay special tribute to front-line medical workers and firefighters.
When Taiwan and Australia continue to fight against the health and economic crisis caused by COVID-19, our cooperation in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the closeness of the ties between our two countries.
Taiwan and Australia have agreed to exchange raw materials to help each other fight COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, Taiwan donated 500,000 face masks to support Australian government’s effort to control the pandemic. This is a vivid example of “A friend in need is a friend indeed.”
In January 2020, Australia and Taiwan signed an Organic Equivalency Arrangement, which means that consumers in Taiwan could enjoy Australian high quality products, and vice versa.
Taiwan and Australia not only share the same values of democracy, but also enjoy a robust trade and economic partnership. Taiwan is Australia's sixth-largest merchandise export market and 15th-largest merchandise import market. Taiwan with outstanding technology skills and manufacturing capacity has high confidence in playing an important role in “Supply Chain Resilience”. Taiwan’s significance vis-à-vis the development of Australia manifests itself. More examples of cooperation and people-to-people exchanges will be shared on our webpage in dedication to the celebration of our National Day.
This year also marks the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Pacific Day and the end of the Second World War. As a democratic and peace-loving country, Taiwan has the responsibility to safeguard the precious and hard-earned freedom, stability, prosperity and security in our Indo-Pacific region. We will work together with Australia and other like-minded countries to enhance our bilateral relations and uphold the rule-based international order.
All the best and stay safe and healthy.
