A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that the government is planning to open a representative in Montreal, Canada, in the first half of next year.
Preparations for Taiwan’s fourth representative office in Canada are under way, Department of North American Affairs Director-General Douglas Hsu (徐佑典) said.
Taiwan’s main representative office is in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, with branch offices in Toronto and Vancouver.
Photo: AP
“We hope we can see a positive development on the project in the first half of next year,” Hsu told reporters during a news conference.
The ministry first announced the office on Tuesday, but did not say when it would open.
A source familiar with the matter yesterday said that the ministry has identified four potential sites an office Montreal, Canada’s second-largest city.
The office — to be named the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Montreal — is to employ about 10 staff, similar to the branch offices in Toronto and Vancouver, the source said.
Canada’s swift approval of the Montreal office is part of the greater attention that Ottawa is giving to Taiwan as part of its Indo-Pacific strategy, released last month, the source said.
The Canadian strategy document refers to Taiwan multiple times, including working with Indo-Pacific partners to push back against any unilateral actions threatening the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait and the East and South China seas.
Montreal, the largest city in the French-speaking province of Quebec, is known as a technology hub, notably in video game and artificial intelligence development. The city is also home to the International Civil Aviation Organization headquarters.
Taiwan has 111 overseas representative offices, including embassies and consulates in the 14 countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Taipei.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,900) for advertisements that exceeded its approved business scope and ordered the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license would be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter supervision of Chinese e-commerce platforms and more stringent measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan as US President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on origin laundering. The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday met to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report on the matter. Democratic Progressive Party