Canada opposes the use of coercion or force to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, Canadian Trade Office in Taipei Executive Director Jim Nickel said during a meeting with Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday, adding that Taiwan is considered “an important partner for Canada in the Indo-Pacific region.”
“To strengthen our democratic resilience, Canada wants to deepen our cooperation with Taiwan in areas such as countering disinformation and foreign interference, strengthening cybersecurity and protecting critical infrastructure, including ensuring communications resilience,” Nickel said.
“Canada has now joined the Global Cooperation and Training Framework [GCTF] as a full member with Taiwan, the US, Japan and Australia. Canada sees the GCTF as a valuable platform for exchanging best practices on issues of domestic and transnational importance, and for bringing Taiwan to the world and the world to Taiwan,” he said.
Photo courtesy of the Executive Yuan
Taiwan and Canada have transitioned to “a green and digital future,” Nickel said, adding that Canada is proud of its “investment in Taiwan’s offshore wind center and contributing to Taiwan’s net zero goals.”
Taiwan and Canada “share values of freedom and democracy, and support each other in safeguarding regional peace,” Cho said.
Canada has exercised the right to freedom of navigation by dispatching military vessels to sail through the Taiwan Strait multiple times, attesting to the connection of Taiwan to the world in facilitating regional security, Cho added.
With the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement signed last year and a double taxation avoidance pact in 2016, Taiwan and Canada would continue to develop their bilateral relationship and prior collaborations in economy, trade, technology and healthcare, he said.
Taiwan’s offshore wind construction has received significant assistance from Canadian energy companies, and the government is to boost the budget for technological development to NT$146.6 billion (US$4.57 billion) next year to explore more collaborations with Canada, he said.
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