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  McConaghy: In warming up to China, Canada must... - Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Toronto 駐多倫多台北經濟文化辦事處 :::
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McConaghy: In warming up to China, Canada mustn't abandon Taiwan

MARK MCCONAGHY

Published on: June 28, 2017 | Last Updated: June 28, 2017 3:27 PM EDT

This month, Panama announced that it was cutting off diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favour of recognizing the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Though the story received only passing coverage in western media outlets, it sent shock waves through Taiwan. While the minutiae of Taiwanese diplomacy may seem of little importance to most Canadians, the Taiwan question is one that they would do well to consider.

Taiwan is a self-governing and democratic society, though its ability to play a meaningful role in the international order has been hampered by Mainland China’s claim of sovereignty over the island. After enduring multiple colonial regimes in the 20th century, first from the Japanese empire, then Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalist Party, the Taiwanese people led a successful democratization movement in the 1980s, paving the way for the island’s first free presidential elections in 1996. The Chiang Kai-shek regime, meanwhile, lost the seat that represented “China” at the UN to the mainland government in 1971, leaving Taiwan in diplomatic limbo ever since.

The Panama decision comes at a particularly volatile time for cross-straits relations. China has in recent months worked to bar Taiwan from participating in the World Health Organization’s annual assembly; pushed African governments to shut down Taiwanese trade offices; and arrested Taiwanese citizens working on the mainland. Such measures have been largely seen as punishment after Taiwan’s current government, led by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), refused to publicly endorse the “One-China Policy,” which is Beijing’s assertion that Taiwan is an irrefutable part of the People’s Republic of China.

With an unyielding Chinese superpower on the one hand and a flourishing Taiwanese democracy on the other, what position should Canada take on the cross-straits question? Canada has long maintained an ambiguous stance in this regard. In the original 1970 communiqué marking the establishment of diplomatic relations with the PRC, Canada “noted” China’s claim on Taiwan but did not endorse it. Since then, Canada has been content to maintain trade relations with an entity called “Taipei” while it deepens formal ties with the PRC. China is now Canada’s third-largest trading partner, with almost $60 billion in annual trade between the two countries.

The obvious benefits of the China-Canada trade relation should not, however, force the Trudeau government into perpetual silence on the Taiwan question. In a world in which Western governments have become mired in intractable conflict abroad and internecine division at home, liberal democracy has come under ideological attack from many corners. Indeed, it has become fashionable among intellectuals in China and elsewhere to trumpet authoritarianism as a more flexible model for governance in the 21st century. Taiwan stands as a rejection of such authoritarian apologia: its very existence proves that democracy and human rights are not only possible but essential in the Sinophone world.

Justin Trudeau’s government enjoys boasting that “Canada is back” on the international stage. Taiwan is a crucial test of this government’s commitment to democracy globally.

What does a deeper Canadian engagement with Taiwan look like? Regional governments in Taiwan and Canada should deepen institutional knowledge-sharing as they work to address a myriad of similar challenges, from rapidly aging populations to explosive urban growth. Canadian parliamentarians should be encouraged to visit Taiwan to gain a first-hand sense of the nature of Taiwanese institutions. They should feel empowered by the Canadian government to publicly discuss Taiwan as a legitimate part of the world community rather than as a tabooed non-space. Canadian universities should devote more resources to studying Taiwan, whose anti-colonial experience can provide lessons for Canada’s own search for truth and reconciliation. Finally, Canada can support Taiwan’s 2018 bid to participate in the WHO’s annual assembly, ensuring that the 23 million people who live in Taiwan are not banished from the global heath community.

Supporting Taiwan’s right to a meaningful presence in the world does not mean that Canada must support Taiwanese claims to nationhood, or ignore the mainland’s position on the matter. What Canadian leaders can do is express, in word and deed, solidarity for a community whose vibrant democracy embodies our own highest values. This solidarity will be crucial to ensuring that, whatever relationship Taiwan will have with China in the future, its democracy will not go unrecognized and unprotected by the international community.

Mark McConaghy completed his PhD studies in modern Chinese cultural history in the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto. He is currently a visiting post-doctoral scholar at Academia Sinica’s Institute for Chinese Literature and Philosophy in Taipei, Taiwan. ( Ottawa Citizen )