Taiwan has been included on a list of countries unwanted at Canada Day events, the Canadian Press news agency reported on Sunday.
The Canadian Trade Office in Taipei was not able to verify the information, which the Canadian Press obtained under the Canadian Access to Information Act, which provides access to information under the Ottawa’s control.
According to the report, the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development circulates a persona non grata list in June each year, warning its embassies, consulates and other overseas missions to bar them from local events marking Canada Day, which is on July 1.
North Korea, Fiji, Belarus, Iran, Syria, Guinea-Bissau and Madagascar were the prominent countries on last year’s list, largely because of Canada’s disapproval of unelected or “badly behaved” governments, Canadian Press said.
Taiwan is also on the list this year, though only because Canada does not recognize the nation as a state rather than from any disapproval of its government, the news agency said.
The Canadian Press said that the department has refused to release its list this year, but it added that there were unlikely to be any changes from last year, with the possible inclusion of Russia for the first time.
An accompanying memorandum from Canadian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Morris Rosenberg says the invitation restrictions apply for events being held in Canada as well, the report said.
The Canadian Press said that it asked the department to comment on the list and a spokesperson replied: “It is not our practice to provide lists of country representatives invited or not invited to functions held at our missions abroad.”
“I’m afraid that’s all I have at this point,” Ian Trites, a department spokesperson said in an e-mail, according to the Canadian Press.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to a Taipei Times request for a response by issuing a three-point statement at 10:20pm.
The ministry said that one, it was the Canadian Press that had stated in its report that Canada’s foreign affairs department did not provide a list for this year; two, it was the Canadian Press that termed the list a persona non grata list; and three — as the Canadian Press had said — Taiwan was on the list last year not because the Canadian government was critical of Taiwan or was displeased with it, but because Ottawa does not recognize Taiwan as a state.
“The ministry found the comments about Taiwan in the report deeply regrettable,” ministry spokesperson Anna Kao (高安) told the Taipei Times.
Kao said the relationship between Taiwan and Canada has been growing steadily closer, evidenced by the signing of the working holiday agreement in April 2010, the inclusion of Taiwan in Canada’s visa waiver program in November that year and the signing of an agreement expanding the number of bilateral direct flights in November last year.
Earlier in the evening, former minister of foreign affairs Cheng Chien-jen (程建人) told the Taipei Times that he has never heard of the list and “it is hard for me to believe that it exists unless I see it with my own eyes.”
“If Canada has such a list, it should revise it. I do not see any reason to put Taiwan on the list because it is a democratic country and the relationship between Taiwan and Canada has [always] been cordial,” Cheng said.
This story has been updated since it was first published.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique