Delegations from Canada and Germany yesterday visited government officials in Taipei, weeks after warships from both nations sailed through the Taiwan Strait.
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Remus Chen (陳立國) headed a luncheon to welcome the Canadian delegation, including Richard Fadden, former national security adviser to the prime minister; Martin Green, former Privy Council Office assistant secretary to the Cabinet; and Guy Thibault, former vice chief of the defense staff.
Both sides traded opinions on Taiwan’s national defense reforms, countermeasures against foreign information manipulation, bolstering mutual relations and increasing Taiwan’s participation in international bodies.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Canada and Taiwan are both medium-sized nations and have interests in the Indo-Pacfic region, Fadden said, adding that Canada was looking forward to working with Taiwan in mutually beneficial areas and further deepening bilateral relations.
Chen extended Taiwan’s welcome to Canada’s first delegation on the issue of national defense and said that Taiwan was glad to see Canadian ships transiting the Taiwan Strait on July 31.
The move marked the fourth time that Canada has sailed warships through the Taiwan Strait since the announcement of Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy in 2022, Chen said.
That highlights Canada’s resolve to uphold the liberty, openness and inclusivity of the Indo-Pacific region, he said.
Taiwan is also looking forward to working with Canada in areas such as countering disinformation, trade, medicine and technology, he added.
Meanwhile, Michael Muller, a member of the German parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), visited Taiwan with fellow SPD and Bundestag member Andreas Larem, meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and lunching with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中).
Muller and Larem emphasized the importance for democracies worldwide to band together against the expansion of authoritarianism, adding that democratic nations should step up collaborations on economy, technology and cultural affairs.
Both expressed the hope that Taiwan-Germany relations would continue to deepen.
Wu said he had discussed issues of democratic collaboration, Germany’s strategies on China and the Indo-Pacific region, Germany’s navy ships passing through the Taiwan Strait and the EU’s de-risking policies with Muller and Larem over lunch.
China’s expansion is not solely a cross-strait issue, but a challenge to the world order, Wu said, adding that Taiwan sincerely hopes to work with like-minded partners in Europe to foster peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
Lin said that democratic nations should band together to foster economic and cultural resilience.
He added that Taiwan is willing to share with its EU partners its experience in handling Chinese hybrid and information warfare, as well as measures dealing with China’s weaponization of its economy.
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