As the war in Ukraine rages on amidst human rights violations, threats of nuclear war, and an emerging potential food and energy crisis, tensions surrounding China and its sabre-rattling towards of Taiwan are also at their apex. With US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan having just taken place, Beijing has been ramping up its incendiary rhetoric and hostile activity after years of increasingly provoking Taiwan by flying its planes into Taiwanese airspace.

The international community has rallied to support Ukraine and Taiwan: administering unprecedented sanctions, and offering significant military, humanitarian, and economic support. But in the face of these simultaneously enduring and rapidly changing threats, fresh consideration of what more can be done is imperative.

Throughout his career, former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has long defended the Free World – whether that be by challenging Vladimir Putin over Russia’s actions in Ukraine and the shooting down of Malaysian Flight MH17 which killed 38 Australians, or committing Australian forces to the battle against ISIS in Syria and agreeing to resettle an additional 12,000 refugees from the region. A longstanding and vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party, he has also focused his attention on the many breaches of international law conducted by Beijing.

The Henry Jackson Society is therefore delighted to welcome Tony Abbott to a discussion on how we can best defend both Taiwan and Ukraine as the Free World faces new, perilous threats.

Tony Abbott is an Australian politician who served as a member of the Australian House of Representatives (1994–2019), leader of the Liberal Party of Australia (2009–15), and Prime Minister of Australia (2013–15).

Abbott attended the University of Sydney, where he earned a B.A. in Economics (1979) and a Law degree (1981). He next studied at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, earning an M.A. in Politics and Philosophy.

Dr Alan Mendoza is a Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Henry Jackson Society, Britain’s leading thinktank fighting for the principles and alliances which keep societies free. He directs strategy for the organisation as well as acting as its main public face in mediums as diverse as the BBC, Sky, CNBC, Al-Jazeera. Bloomberg, LBC and TalkRadio. On the print side, Alan is a columnist for City AM, London’s business newspaper, and has contributed to The Times, The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Sun and a host of international newspapers and magazines.

Having obtained a B.A. (Hons.) and M.Phil in history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Alan completed a Ph.D. at the same institution. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and was the Parliamentary Candidate for the Conservative Party in the Brent Central Constituency for the 2015 General Election. He is also a Trustee of the President Reagan Memorial Fund Trust.

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EVENT SUMMARY

The Henry Jackson Society was pleased to welcome The Hon Tony Abbott MP for a discussion on Australian and British foreign policies and the current threat posed by the crisis over Taiwan. Dr Alan Mendoza began the conversation by introducing the speaker. The Hon Tony Abbott MP highlighted the role of Western countries and NATO in preventing the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and the China-Taiwan crisis. He also argued that if China invades Taiwan, it would be the end the US alliance system and of the US-led global world order. Finally, The Hon Tony Abbott MP answered questions on the importance of acquiring nuclear submarines for Australia, the role of other countries such as Japan in the current crises, and the future of American foreign policy depending on the coming elections.

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