Peter Dutton warns mistakes made with Russia can’t be made with China amid tensions with Taiwan

Peter Dutton has warned the international community not to make the same mistakes with China as they did with Russia, as tensions over Taiwan escalate.

The opposition leader doubled down on his criticism of the Chinese government, saying there was regret stronger action wasn’t taken against Russian President Vladimir Putin in the lead up to the invasion of Ukraine.

‘There’s no sense in a couple of months or a couple of years time saying Chinese have gone into Taiwan, we didn’t see this coming,’ he told Nine on Friday.

‘We’re right in shining a huge spotlight on the behaviour, calling it out … If we do that, that gives us the best chance of keeping peace in our region.

‘There’d be a lot of people saying, if only we put more pressure on Putin not to go into the Ukraine … we wouldn’t have the bloody scenes that we see now.’

Beijing fired 11 ballistic missiles over and near Taiwan following US Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island last week.

Acting prime minister Richard Marles reaffirmed the need for a ‘capable’ and ‘potent’ defence force amid escalating regional tension.

Mr Marles, who is also the defence minister, would not be drawn on how Australia would defend itself in the face of a possible Chinese attack, but called for de-escalation.

‘The world wants to see that … we would all breathe a sigh of relief (if) we saw a return to normal peaceful activity around there,’ he said.

‘From Australia’s point of view … our engagement here is based on the fact that we have an unchanged policy of not wanting to see any change to the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.’

China’s Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian addressed the National Press Club on Wednesday, where he said there was ‘no compromise’ on Taiwan, and that his nation’s 1.4 billion people would decide its future.

He also said the 23 million people living in Taiwan would undergo re-education about China once reunited.