China should not use a planned visit to Taiwan by Canadian lawmakers as a pretext for military or economic aggression, Adrien Blanchard, a spokesperson for Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly, said on Wednesday.
China on Tuesday said it would take “forceful measures” if Canada interfered in Taiwan, after news that a delegation of Canadian lawmakers was planning to visit the nation later this year to explore trade opportunities.
Canada, like much of the West, follows a “one China” policy that recognizes Beijing, not Taipei, diplomatically, while it unofficially supports Taiwan.
Photo courtesy of the Overseas Community Affairs Council via CNA
Blanchard said parliamentary associations and friendship groups make travel decisions independently, and the Canadian government respects that.
“As we have said before, the travel of parliamentarians should not be used as a pretext for escalation or aggressive military and economic actions,” Blanchard said.
Last week, Canadian lawmaker Judy Sgro said members of a Canada-Taiwan parliamentary “friendship group,” which does not receive administrative or financial support from the Canadian parliament, was planning to visit Taiwan in October.
“China will take resolute and forceful measures against any country that attempts to interfere with or infringe upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Chinese embassy in Canada said in a statement late on Tuesday.
Defying warnings from Beijing, US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei earlier this month in what was the highest-level US visit in 25 years.
China responded by staging military drills near Taiwan for what it said was stepped-up US support for the nation.
Pelosi’s visit has also brought attention to what were previously routine interactions between the West and Taipei.
Canadian lawmakers made regular visits to Taiwan before the COVID-19 pandemic brought international travel to a halt.
Sgro has said the trip would focus on trade, and that the lawmakers’ intent was not to disrupt and cause problems for Taiwan or with China.
Her office on Wednesday did not respond to request for comment.
“We encourage all parties to remain calm, exercise restraint and maintain open lines of communication to prevent misunderstanding,” Blanchard said.
Separately, US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl on Wednesday said the US remains “committed to a stable, free, and open Indo Pacific,” and would continue to conduct freedom of navigation operations, including Taiwan Strait transits.
“China took the speaker’s visit as an excuse to manufacture a crisis and to set a new normal, and that what we need to do is to show that we and the rest of the international community will not be coerced,” he said.
“Our reaction is not to invite conflict or to generate unnecessary frictions, but to basically make clear that Beijing’s gambit isn’t going to pay off,” he added.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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