Thank you very much, honourable committee, for inviting me to join this meaningful event.
I believe our honourable committee members have a lot of knowledge about the current Taiwan-Canada relations and Canada-China relations, so I will touch on those two issues a bit as a background, and then I will focus on the cross-strait relations.
Generally speaking, the Canadian government has continuously supported Taiwan's meaningful participation in the international community, including specialized agencies of the United Nations, such as WHO and ICAO, as well as regional trade partnerships such as the CPTPP. Taiwan already put in our bid, and we hope that we can join this arrangement sooner rather than later.
In terms of geopolitics, Taiwan is a critical strategic hub in east Asia, and the Taiwan Strait together with the East China Sea and the South China Sea constitute major maritime shipping routes between northeast and southeast Asia. Thus, peace in this region is essential to global trade and stability.
As cross-strait relations intensified in recent years, Canadian officials have expressed concerns over China's intention of unilaterally changing the status quo, and the passages of Canada's warships in safeguarding this region are highly appreciated.
If we take a close look at the bilateral trading relationship between Canada and Taiwan, we can see that Taiwan is Canada's fifth-largest trading partner in Asia, with a total volume amounting to $8.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. Arrangements such as the avoidance of double taxation between Taiwan and Canada signed in 2016 helped pave the way to creating an environment conducive to promoting investment.
When it comes to China-Canada relations, China is one of Canada's largest trading partners worldwide, placing third only after the United States and the European Union. Trade relations between China and Canada expanded rapidly, yet recent incidents have cast a shadow over the prospect of this bilateral trading relationship.
This year, Canada joined its Five Eyes partners in banning Huawei and ZTE from its 5G networks due to security concerns. Many high-profile cases presented some of China's most concerning trade practices, hence as trade with China remains essential to a certain extent, it is worth a close examination with caution.
For relations across the Taiwan Strait, China has seen Taiwan as a renegade province since the Chinese Civil War and an integral part of President Xi Jinping's enterprise of the national great rejuvenation, which even takes national unification as part of the redemption to the 100 years of humiliation. War games and Xi's own words that “we will never promise to give up the use of force and reserve the option to take all necessary measures” over Taiwan demonstrate how serious and determined Beijing is in retrieving the island democracy.
China, from time to time, has also employed peaceful overtures to lure Taiwan into its plot. The most obvious policy of “carrot” included attracting Taiwan business people, performing artists and students to invest, work and study in mainland China under a policy dubbed “integrated development”.
Across the Taiwan Strait, however, people have found it less and less attractive when asked about unification with China over the decades. The Mainland Affairs Council of Taiwan revealed that in October 2022 only 8.7% of the respondents favoured unification, now or in the future. The number dropped significantly from 26.8% in August 1996, only five months after Taiwan's first direct presidential election. Domestic politics mattered in shaping Taiwan people's identity, wherein more and more citizens view Taiwan as a de facto independent country from mainland China.
China's sale on “one country, two systems” has no market in Taiwan, especially in the aftermath of China's rule with an iron first over Hong Kong in 2019.
After U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit on August 4-7, the PLA conducted a 72-hour live-fire test in six areas surrounding Taiwan, together with aircraft and navy ships manoeuvring across the median line of the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan considered it to be a blockade simulation. In reaction, Taiwanese people's negative view on China soared, echoing the feelings held by the other side across the Pacific, the United States. From Taiwan's perspective—