To a crowd filled with a mix of University of North Florida (UNF) faculty, students and guests, former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull gave a speech Wednesday night about the state of China, their desire for power and how to deal with their attempts to expand influence.  

Turnbull served nearly three years as the 29th Prime Minister of Australia, where he was involved in key policy decisions that influenced Australian society, including same-sex marriage, environmental conservation and energy crises, global trade and more.

The speech was held at the Lazzara Performance Hall in the UNF Fine Arts Center, where Turnbull informed the audience about China’s growing Communist Party domination under Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“We’re not going to change China,” Turnbull said. “What we have to do is make sure that China does not change us and, most importantly, does not change our world.”

Turnbull said that to maintain peace within our countries, it’s important to not give in to bullies. He suggested that to deal with Chinese attempts to expand their influence we must be dynamic and offer better alternative solutions.  

He told the audience about Australia’s decision to ban Huawei from their 5G network. While acknowledging that Huawei has never broken the law and that Australia did not make accusations against China for spying, they could not mitigate the risks associated with Huawei. 

“A threat is the combination of capability and intent,” Turnbull said. “Capability takes a long time to put into place… intent can change in a heartbeat.” 

By banning Huawei from their 5G network, he explained, Australia was not identifying a smoking gun but a loaded one.  

He warned that China’s motivations are to expand its influence and become the most dominant power in its region. But the other countries in the region who want to maintain their sovereign autonomy must stand up against Chinese attempts for control. 

“Our sovereignty is just as important to us as China’s sovereignty is to the Chinese people,” Turnbull said. 

Turnbull addressed one pressing question that’s been at hand—are we going to have a war over Taiwan?  

He told the audience about the speculations surrounding whether China will invade Taiwan, and his “friends from the intelligence world” say China could invade in March 2024. He explained the vulnerability of that time period is when Taiwan and the United States might be distracted by elections, among other reasons. 

He elaborated on this topic by discussing the lessons learned from Russia and Ukraine and how they can be implicated in the Taiwan-China situation.

 “What we’ve learned is, one of the greatest mysteries in war… is the will to fight,” Turnbull said. “The real question, for all of us in the West is, are we prepared to allow a democracy… to just be conquered by sheer force of arms?” 

He discussed the possibilities and risks of China invading Taiwan and ultimately concluded that there is no solution to the cross-trade issue other than continuing to deter China from going to war. 

“That is why strength [and resolve] is so important,” Turnbull concluded. 

Australian native Oscar Berry is a UNF sophomore studying business management. Berry moved to the United States about four years ago and thought Turnbull spoke very well and with knowledge about the topics.

“The biggest quote that stood out to me was to not be bullied because there are a lot of smaller nations in the Asia-Pacific that are being targeted at the moment by China,” Berry said. “So, for him to say that, I completely agree.”

Jacksonville resident Rosemary Alarcon was among the crowd at Turnbull’s speech. As an artist and small businesswoman, Alarcon said that she attended the speech because she liked being educated on worldly issues. 

“It’s important to know what’s going on around the world because eventually, it affects us in one way or the other,” she said. “We need to keep informed and listen to real news, not opinions.”  

Alarcon said that if we have more people like Mr. Turnbull, there’s hope.

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