Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'm the coholder of the chair of Taiwan studies at the University of Ottawa. I've lived in Taiwan for over 10 years, which has included five years of research in indigenous communities, where people are very grateful for 150 years of Canada-Taiwan relations that brought them Presbyterian and Catholic missions.
The so-called Taiwan issue began with the postwar disposition of Japanese territories in the 1951 San Francisco peace treaty, when Japan declared the end of war and renounced all claims to Taiwan without specifying a recipient. At the time, foreign minister Lester Pearson said, “I hope possibly in that eventual solution some people who are overlooked in this matter, I mean the people of Formosa themselves, might be given some consideration.”
In a way, democratization means that the Taiwanese people now exercise self-determination in every single election. Although the Republic of China brought an authoritarian state to Taiwan, democratization eventually allowed the Taiwanese to remake it in their own image. Taiwan is now a leader in such areas as LGBT rights and indigenous rights, yet Chinese threats to invade and annex the island country prevent them from living free of fear. This is already a human rights issue. When China coerces Canada to marginalize Taiwan, it is also a violation of our sovereignty.
Canadians often self-censor when it comes to Taiwan, but when we recognized the PRC in 1970 as the sole government of China, the government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau kept our options open with an agreement to neither endorse nor challenge the Chinese government's position on the status of Taiwan. We therefore need to avoid even the appearance of endorsing China's claim over Taiwan, even in little things like the drop-down menus on some government websites.
As a trading nation, Canada's first interest is a peaceful, free and open Indo-Pacific. I think we have already covered the security and defence issues and the FIPA, the CPTPP and the international organizations, but I would like to say that the Indo-Pacific is also inclusive and sustainable.
One of the areas we have in common with Taiwan is indigenous issues. I just spent the last two days with a delegation from the Taipei indigenous affairs bureau. Also, this year we signed an agreement called IPETCA with Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand, so there are things going on there, and we once had an MOU with Taiwan on indigenous affairs.
It is also a global good that some countries still have relations with Taiwan as the Republic of China. We can reinforce the peaceful status quo by co-operating with Taiwan on joint projects in such countries. Some of them might seem far away to most Canadians, such as Palau, but others, such as Haiti, are very important to us and also need our help. We can help with Taiwan. We could, for example, create joint projects with Taiwan in development assistance or even in military or coast guard co-operation like peacekeeping, disaster relief and search and rescue operations.
Canada's policy is to neither challenge nor endorse China's claims to Taiwan. We cannot endorse them because they are political goals rather than descriptions of reality on the ground. We chose not to challenge because silence was needed to establish diplomatic relations with China, but that decision was based on assumptions that China and Taiwan would seek a peaceful resolution. Now, as one side gets increasingly aggressive, we need to emphasize that we do not endorse China's coercion. We may someday consider legislation like the Taiwan Relations Act of the U.S. to provide guidance to Canadians on Canada-Taiwan relations, and I would say that even the universities need some guidance.
In a worst-case scenario, Chinese aggression could even lead us to us to formally recognize Taiwan, just as we had to do with Kosovo, despite Russian and Serbian opposition, to make sure that it's an international issue. Historically, especially during Pearson's time, we have looked at this as an international issue.
We have to do whatever we can do to prevent any conflict. I think we're doing very well by consistently making the argument that we want to keep the peaceful status quo. We have to signal to China that we are serious about keeping the peaceful status quo and that our silence about Taiwan was conditional on them refraining from aggression. Those days seem past. We also need to assure our democratic allies and partners that we stand with them—that means Japan, the U.S. and others—and that Taiwan is a shared security issue.
I think we need to work hard for peace because the alternative is unimaginable, and the costs to Canada would be very high.