Why ‘Taiwan’s fight is Canada’s fight’ amid Chinese aggression
A delegation of Canadian politicians met with the president of Taiwan in Taipei Wednesday to debate the Chinese authorities’s navy aggression and allegations of overseas interference.
“Even as we arrived here, there’s 160 warplanes flying overhead and they’re carrying on naval exercises,” mentioned Liberal MP John McKay, referencing this week’s Chinese navy workout routines.
“Our message to them is that Taiwan’s fight is Canada’s fight,” he mentioned.
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The 10 Canadian MPs included representatives from the Liberals, Conservatives, NDP and Bloc Quebecois. They wore pins on their lapels bearing the Taiwanese and Canadian flags and have been greeted with a heat smile and handshakes by President Tsai Ing-wen.
“Canada is a very important democratic partner,” Tsai instructed the delegation from her podium in a briefing room contained in the Presidential Office Building.
“Faced with continued authoritarian expansionism, it is even more critical for democracies to actively unite.”
A delegation of Canadian MPs poses for a photograph after arriving in Taipei, Taiwan on April 10, 2023.
Canadian Trade Office in Taipei/Facebook
The Canadian MPs introduced Tsai with a hardcopy of a report that handed unanimously final month by the House of Commons’ particular committee on Canada-China relations, which referred to as for nearer ties with Taiwan and an finish to Chinese navy encroachment.
Previous visits by Canadian politicians to Taiwan, just like the one final 12 months, have largely targeted on points equivalent to commerce. But the dialog on this journey carried a a lot starker tone.
Taiwan’s consultant in Canada, Harry Ho-jen Tseng, who travelled with the delegation, mentioned Taipei’s relationship with Ottawa is being reshaped by an more and more daring and brazen Beijing.
“Even though the relations between Canada and Taiwan have been very comprehensive over the past years, at this particular point of time, the security issue and national defence seem to be more important than anything else,” Tseng instructed Global News in Taipei.
The Canadian delegation’s safety considerations centre on the Chinese authorities’s alleged overseas interference in Canada’s elections. During their week-long go to to the Taiwanese capital, which is being funded by Taipei, the Canadian MPs toured the places of work of an NGO referred to as Doublethink Lab, one in every of many teams which have sprung up lately to fact-check and debunk disinformation and Chinese authorities propaganda focusing on Taiwan.
“Taiwan is kind of ground zero for Chinese disinformation,” mentioned Ai-Men Lau, a Canadian analysis analyst who works for the NGO.
“I think it’s quite striking being here in Taiwan, seeing how Taiwanese civil society has really risen up to address the issue.”
Michael Chong, the Conservative overseas affairs critic and a member of the delegation, mentioned Canada can study from the Taiwanese expertise.
“Taiwan has long been subject to foreign interference from Beijing,” he mentioned. “There are a lot of lessons we can learn in how the Taiwanese government has built resilience in its population and its citizens and society against this foreign interference.”
Opinion polls have constantly proven the overwhelming majority of Taiwan’s residents wish to stay a democracy and separate from China. But these high-profile conferences with democratic world leaders have at instances proved polarizing right here.
After Tsai met final week with prime U.S. officers, together with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the Chinese authorities launched three days of navy workout routines round Taiwan, involving dozens of warplanes and ships.
Some Taiwanese really feel the diplomatic photo-ops aren’t value Beijing’s wrath.
“This issue has been divisive in Taiwan, because some think this is too provocative against China,” mentioned James Yifan Chen, an assistant professor on the Department of Diplomacy and International Relations of Tamkang University in Taipei.
“Mostly, we want to maintain a so-called status quo.”
The chief of Taiwan’s pro-China reunification occasion and convicted former gang chief, Chang An-lo, mentioned the Canadian delegation ought to go house.
“They should mind their own business and solve their own problems before talking about these things. They need to reflect on themselves,” he mentioned, pointing to the Canadian authorities’s mistreatment of Indigenous individuals.
“Maybe I should tell Canada how to deal with its Indigenous people,” he mentioned.
The Chinese embassy in Ottawa has to date not commented on the Canadian delegation in Taiwan. When requested by Global News whether or not they have been involved their go to would possibly additional provoke the Chinese authorities towards Taiwan, the MPs shook their heads.
“Not at all, because these visits are part of a long-standing policy for decades amongst democracies of sending parliamentary delegations to Taiwan,” mentioned Chong.
“What has changed is Beijing’s position. They’ve become increasingly belligerent. And we can’t appease that behaviour by kowtowing to it.”
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
