China’s embassy in Ottawa is criticizing a visit to Taiwan by Canadian MP Michael Chong, who said his visit is partly to “assert Canadian sovereignty” after China’s ambassador warned against future visits by parliamentarians.
“Canada is a sovereign and independent country,” Chong said in an announcement Sunday, the day he arrived in Taipei. “We don’t take direction from a foreign government about where Canadian MPs can travel internationally, and where Canadian Navy warships can transit in international waters.”
Chong was referencing a warning made by China’s ambassador to Canada, Wang Di, during an interview with The Globe and Mail last month.
Wang warned the strategic partnership announced after Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping could be damaged if Canada sends any more warships through the Taiwan Strait or if any more MPs visit Taiwan.
He also didn’t appear to differentiate between parties, saying no MPs ought to be allowed to go to. Chong is the Conservative Foreign Affairs critic.
The Chinese embassy said such a visit sends “a mistaken message of support for ‘Taiwan independence.’”
“Certain Canadian MP’s visit to the Taiwan region and his meetings with officials of the Taiwan region authorities gravely contravene the one-China commitment Canada upholds and send a mistaken message of support for Taiwan independence. China firmly opposes this,” the embassy wrote in an announcement to Global News.
China claims sovereignty over democratically governed Taiwan and says it has jurisdiction over the nearly 180-kilometre-wide waterway dividing the 2 sides.
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Canada, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, however the two maintain de facto embassies in one another’s capitals.
Carney announced a preliminary cope with China in January on electric vehicles and canola, the partnership Wang gave the impression to be referencing in his remarks.
Michael Kovrig, a senior advisor with the International Crisis Group, told Global News that China, by issuing the warning, is attempting to “assert” itself and “attempting to move the red lines.”
“The ambassador is attempting to say you can’t keep doing what you’ve been doing before and should you do, we will probably be offended with you,” he said. But Kovrig added Chong can be asserting his own stance.
“Michael Chong can be asserting that no, he doesn’t represent the federal government of Canada, and he has full authority to go and visit Taiwan and meet with whoever he pleases and it’s less than the Chinese government,” Kovrig said.
Chong, who serves because the Conservatives’ foreign affairs critic, plans to go to with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te while he’s there.
Taiwan stays a contentious issue between China and multiple countries, including Canada, the US and lots of parts of Europe.
The problem arose this past week when Xi visited the U.S. and met with President Donald Trump, which saw the Chinese leader warn Trump that the 2 countries could clash over the self-governed island if it’s not handled properly.
Trump’s administration has approved an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan, but has yet to start fulfilling it.
The U.S. has a longstanding commitment to assist the island defend itself if attacked, but Trump has shown greater ambivalence toward Taiwan, fueling speculation about whether the president might be persuaded to dial back American support.
Lai said on Sunday that the arms purchases from the U.S. are “crucial deterrent.”
“We thank President Trump for his continued support for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait since his first term, including the continual increase in the size and amount of arms sales to Taiwan,” he said.
The self-governed island and the one-China “principle” is taken into account to be the “political foundation of and an inviolable red line” for relations between Canada and China, the embassy said in its statement.
“We urge Canada to earnestly [abide] by its one-China commitment, effectively restrain any words or deeds that violate the one-China principle, and refrain from interfering in China’s internal affairs,” a spokesperson for the embassy wrote.
Chong stressed in his statement the necessity to opposed the warning.
“To stay silent and comply within the face of intimidation is to accommodate this behaviour, further embolden authoritarianism, and further weaken democracy,” said Chong. “It is just not simply sufficient to proclaim sovereignty; sovereignty have to be exercised.”
—with files from Global News’ Nathaniel Dove, The Associated Press and Reuters
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