Special edition: Canada’s Parliament votes in support of Taiwan’s participation in WHO
Read till the end and find out who we are interviewing next week
Dear China watchers, welcome to our third special edition on the Canadian Parliament. We took a break from the middle powers roundup with Thanksgiving around the corner in Canada . For those of you who are also in the Great White North, we hope you enjoy the long weekend and we look forward to getting back to our usual content soon. Stay tuned ☺️
Taiwan was mentioned 139 times on Tuesday alone so let’s dive in.
On Wednesday, Canada’s House of Commons overwhelmingly voted for a motion to adopt a report that supports Taiwan’s “full participation” in the World Health Assembly (WHA) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The report, first presented to the house in April, has only one line:
That the Standing Committee on Health report to the House that it supports the full participation of Taiwan in the World Health Assembly (WHA) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Other than the four MPs who abstained, the Conservative motion received unanimous support, including Liberals amid increasing tension between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
If you’re like us, you must be curious about the identity of the four MPs who didn’t vote. Well, Trudeau’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly was one of them. This didn’t come as a complete surprise for us (we will dive into that later). For now, here’s a little bit about the other three.
Richard Martel (CPC, Quebec). He sits on the Standing Committee on International Trade.
Mary Ng (Liberal, Ontario). Ng is the Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development. The Liberal MP’s constituency is home to nearly 20 per cent of Ontario’s population who identify as Chinese.
Dave Epp (CPC, Ontario). He is a member of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.
The reason these three politicians refrained from voting is a mystery to us, but as we noted in an earlier post, Canada’s trade policy with China has always been separate from its stance on other issues such as human rights.
Canada, especially its agriculture industries, has found great success with China. Last year, China was the country’s second largest Canola export market, next only to the U.S. (though the numbers are fairly close).
Back to the motion:
Here’s a quick overview of the motion’s timeline:
April 27: The Standing Committee of Health unanimously adopts the report proposed by MP Michael Barrett (CPC, Ontario).
April 29: Report presented to the House.
May 16: Inconclusive debate. A Liberal MP from Quebec moves to adjourn.
Oct 4: Motion brought back for discussion
Oct 5: Motion concurred in.
More details:
Committee chair and MP Sean Casey (Liberal, Prince Edward Island) first presented the report to the House at the end of April followed by a passionate but inconclusive debate. The discussion was put on hold when MP Sherry Romanado (Liberal, Quebec) moved to adjourn.
Just like that, the debate over whether to endorse Taiwan in the global health community was shelved for nearly five months, till Tuesday.
However, the discussion this week was rather heated as well.
Who said what
First, from MP Garnett Genuis (CPC, Alberta)
“I recognize that our engagement with Taiwan, and pushing for its inclusion in these kinds of COVID discussions is, in part, out of a commitment to support Taiwan and its democracy. It is also in our own self-interest when we engage with and learn from Taiwan. If we hear its experiences and perspectives, we are better off. When we trade more with Taiwan, it helps to create jobs and opportunities here in Canada.”
Genuis then went on to criticize the government’s response to the pandemic and said Ottawa should’ve been “listening to Taiwan”.
Towards the end of his speech, he eloquently put forward his views on the importance of backing Taiwan to ward off China:
“We need to be willing to pursue peace through strength,” he said.
“That is, in the case of a prospective invasion of Taiwan by China, we need to send clear meaningful signals about what we would do to support Taiwan. The goal of sending those signals is, of course, to prevent the invasion in the first place. If we want peace, we have to be strong and firm in deterring aggression.”
Throughout his presentation, Genuis was essentially proposing more collaboration with Taiwan on the global stage, partly because it’s a democracy that Canada can learn from.
(His whole speech is quite long, you can read the whole transcript here)
Two Liberal backbench MPs spoke in support of the motion while reiterating Canada’s recognition of the one-China policy.
From MP Rechie Valdez (Liberal, Ontario):
“We also support its meaningful participation in international fora where there is a practical imperative and where Taiwan's absence would be detrimental to global interests.
“Accordingly, and consistent with Canada's long-standing one-China policy, we support Taiwan's inclusion as an observer in the World Health Assembly.”
MP Ryan Turnbull (Liberal, Ontario) recognized that learning from Taiwan’s pandemic response is a “practical imperative” but echoed the one-China policy. He also emphasized the democratic political system the island enjoys.
“Taiwan is a progressive democracy. As a society, it has championed the protection of individual rights and freedoms, including those of women, the LGBTQ2+ community and indigenous people.”
MP Robert Kitchen (CPC, Saskatchewan) took issue with the Liberals’ reservation on full membership.
“…as a doctor in my previous career, the reality is that being an observer at a meeting gives Taiwan no opportunity to interact and get that onto the table. I am wondering why the member is okay with Taiwan being an observer as opposed to being a full participant so it can get their information to the table to help the world.”
“Mr. Speaker, we fully support Taiwan's full participation in the global health network, and I will continue to have Taiwan engaged at the table when we are making decisions, especially with respect to addressing COVID–19 and how we are going to go forward from that disease.”
The CCP has leveraged its influence in multiple organizations to exclude Taiwan from international discourse. Despite that, Canada, along with a few others, has been advocating for Taiwan’s full participation in bodies like the WHO and International Civil Aviation Organization for the past few years. The earliest mention of Canada’s efforts in the media was in 2019.
In this news release from Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Taiwanese government thanked the international community for “unprecedented support” following the WHA in 2021:
“Like-minded countries established a model to jointly assist Taiwan. This year, the Group of Seven (G7), comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, together with the EU, unequivocally advocated for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in WHO and the WHA in the foreign ministers’ communiqué.”
However, if you take a deeper look into Canada's historical stance, you’ll find Taiwan’s prospects for Ottawa’s support looked rather grim.
Here’s a recap of the Canadian government’s position over the years:
1970-1990
After Canada recognized the PRC as the sole government representing China in 1970, it continued unofficial interactions with Taiwan in non-political areas. Leading into the late 80s, Ottawa and Taipei had no diplomatic relations and Canadian diplomats consulted with Chinese counterparts exclusively on Taiwan issues. They also worked on removing Taiwan from international organizations and the UN, as they pushed for the PRC’s entry. All of that happened during Pierre Trudeau’s term.
2000-2019
Opposition and backbench Liberal MPs started pushing for change in the early 2000s. One of the first attempts came from the NDP in 2001 when the party pushed the Liberal government to support Taiwan’s entry into WHO and WHA. The attempt failed and the foreign minister at the time, John Manley, used Canada’s one-China policy to justify the outcome.
In 2003, China’s initial coverup in handling the SARS outbreak prompted international support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the global health bodies. Politicians on the Hill were no exception. Canadian MPs from all parties rallied behind Taiwan, with 163 members supporting a resolution seeking its entry (67 voted against). The government once again rejected their call, citing the need to wait for support from other states at the WHO.
When pro-democracy President Tsai Ing-wen was elected in 2016, and PRC’s Margaret Chen being director general of WHO, Taiwan was excluded from the organization. Till today, Taiwan has had limited access to the organization.
In April 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden passed a bill to help Taiwan regain its WHO status.
*Preview: For next week’s newsletter, we will interview Blake Johnson, author of the new ASPI report on China’s media manipulation in the Solomon Islands. Stay tuned.