Canadian lawmaker Judy Sgro said on Friday that people “should not be intimidated by outside sources” after China publicly rebuked the parliamentarian for visiting Taiwan.
The Chinese embassy in Canada said via a statement that the visit to Taiwan by a parliamentary delegation led by Sgro from Sunday last week to Friday “blatantly violates the one-China principle” and “grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs,” the Globe and Mail reported.
The statement, which was provided to the Canadian daily on Thursday, said that China would “continue to take resolute and strong measures to defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and oppose the interference by external forces in China’s internal affairs.”
Photo: CNA
Sgro on Friday said that pressure from China would not prevent her and other lawmakers from visiting Taiwan.
“I think people should be encouraged to visit Taiwan. You have so much to offer, and the world needs to know more about Taiwan. People need to be encouraged to come and have a positive experience, and should not be intimidated by outside sources,” Sgro said.
Sgro, who is chairwoman of the Canadian parliament’s Standing Committee on International Trade and head of the Canada-Taiwan parliamentary friendship group, arrived in Taiwan with a delegation that included Canadian lawmakers Angelo Iacono, Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Richard Martel and Chris Lewis.
The five-member group was the latest in a series of international delegations from the US, France, Germany and Japan to visit Taiwan since early August.
Sgro said the delegation visited to seek opportunities for economic and investment cooperation between Canada and Taiwan.
The group met with Taiwanese officials and representatives from technology giants such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world’s largest contract chipmaker.
Sgro and other Canadian lawmakers urged their government to begin a foreign investment promotion and protection arrangement with Taiwan, with talks on the so-called FIPA continuing.
Sgro said the delegation would “use our voices as parliamentarians” after returning to Canada.
“We will go back to Canada with a very positive message ... about the opportunities there are for Canada and Taiwan to continue to strengthen their relationship,” she said.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS