Canada is to maintain its Indo-Pacific strategy, even if the country elects a new government later this year, and would remain a strong partner of Taiwan, Canada’s representative to Taipei said on Wednesday.
“My expectation is, Canada will, of course, continue with its Indo-Pacific strategy, and Taiwan’s place in that Indo-Pacific strategy will remain important,” said Jim Nickel, executive director of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei.
“As described in the strategy itself now, we will continue with our strong partnership with Taiwan,” he said at a media event when asked about a potential change of government later this year and how that might affect his country’s relations with Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced earlier this month that he was stepping down as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
He would remain as prime minister in a caretaker capacity until the party selected a new leader.
The party’s nationwide process of choosing a new leader is expected to conclude on March 9, while Canada’s general elections are mandated to be held on or before Oct. 20.
The Canadian government’s Indo-Pacific strategy, released in November 2022, says that the nation would invest resources in deepening engagement with free and democratic partners in the Indo-Pacific region, including Taiwan, and would oppose unilateral actions that threaten the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait.
“China is an increasingly disruptive global power,” the document says.
Canada would balance its approach to China with diversified investments in regional relationships, including working with Indo-Pacific partners to push back against any unilateral actions that threaten the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait and the East and South China Seas, the document says.
It mentions Taiwan multiple times, saying that Canada would maintain its multifaceted engagement with Taiwan and would continue to foster economic and people-to-people ties with Taiwan while supporting Taiwan’s resilience.
Nickel on Wednesday said that Taiwan would be a good addition to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which it has applied to join.
Asked about Taiwan’s application to join the CPTPP, Nickel said that when Canada was CPTPP commission chair last year, there were “very good conversations about all the applicants to the CPTPP, including Taiwan.”
Canada is very pleased that Taiwan remains interested and committed to joining the regional trade bloc, Nickel said.
“Canada believes that Taiwan would make a very good addition to the CTPPP, given Taiwan’s commitment to rules-based trade, and of course, the high value that Taiwanese industry contributes to the global economy,” he said.
During an annual CPTPP summit in Vancouver in November last year, the members of the trade bloc failed to reach an agreement to initiate an accession process for Taiwan or China.
However, the CPTPP members decided to commence the initiation process for Costa Rica, which had applied in August 2022 to join the bloc, a year after Taiwan and China did.
China applied for CPTPP membership about a week earlier than Taiwan.
The CPTPP represents about 15 percent of the global economy.
It has 12 members: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the UK.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS