The Canadian House of Commons on Thursday unanimously passed the first reading of a proposal to create a legal framework for efforts to strengthen relations with Taiwan.
The Canada-Taiwan Relations Framework Act was introduced by Canadian Member of Parliament Michael Cooper, who said that not having a formal diplomatic relationship with Taiwan has complicated interactions between the two nations.
Taiwan is one of Canada’s largest trading partners, and the two share strong people-to-people links and common values, he said.
Taiwan “is a vibrant economy and one of the world’s top 20 economies. It is time Canada’s relations with Taiwan reflect the reality that Taiwan is today and this legislation is an important step towards that,” he said.
The proposed act would permit the office of Taiwan’s representative in Canada to be referred to as the Taiwan Representative Office. The office is currently called the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, the name that is used in many countries that follow a “one China” policy and maintain no diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
The proposed act also calls for preserving and promoting close relations between Canadians and Taiwanese, including in economic, cultural and legal affairs.
Canada should conduct foreign relations on the basis that peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region are in the political, security and economic interests of the nation, and are matters of international concern, the bill says.
It further stipulates that any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, or by boycotts or embargoes, would constitute a threat to the peace and security of the Indo-
Pacific region and be of grave concern to Canada.
The proposed act supports the peaceful evolution of democratic political institutions in the Indo-Pacific region, it says. It also supports participation of Taiwan in multilateral international organizations, including the WHO and the International Civil Aviation Organization.
It also encourages other states and non-governmental organizations to support that goal “so that Taiwan may play a role that is commensurate with its position in the Indo-Pacific region.”
The act exempts the Taiwanese president and senior government officials from having to obtain visas, as stipulated in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, when the primary purpose of their visit to Canada is not official.
At an online press conference after introducing the act to the House of Commons, Cooper underlined that the proposed act does not breach Ottawa’s “one China” policy because when establishing formal ties with Beijing in 1970, Canada only “took note” of its claim that Taiwan is part of China.
This means there is flexibility in interactions between Canada and Taiwan, he said.
Asked if Canada should worry about protests from Beijing, Cooper said the introduction of the act has nothing to do with China.
“Taiwan is simply too important. It’s time we move forward to engage with Taiwan and enhance the relationship,” he said.
There is a need for a clearly defined framework that specifies how the goal is to be achieved in respect of economic, cultural and legal affairs, he said.
The act passed a first reading before the House of Commons goes into recess later this month, paving the way for its progress in the new session, which begins in September.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,