International Trade Committee on May 26th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

You have 30 seconds.

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton, QC]

Okay.

In 2026, you said that Canada could lose on both fronts if it used its strategy regarding China and the United States.

Could you clarify what you were saying?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

Is that a very gloomy picture to me? I believe you have very capable politicians here, and the two Houses of Parliament would prevent that from happening.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Agreed.

We'll go to Mr. Chambers, please, for five minutes.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Tseng, welcome to committee.

You're aware that we're having an internal discussion about Chinese electric vehicles. I'm not asking you to opine on our discussion, but I will ask you how Taiwan has dealt with whether or not to allow Chinese electric vehicles. What restrictions have you placed on cars from China?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

It's a tough question for me. My office here does not watch that issue, but to the best of my knowledge, we don't import whole cars from China, let alone EVs. It doesn't mean that auto parts or components cannot be exported from China to Taiwan—they can—but these parts, components or accessories cannot be imported to Taiwan and then assembled into a whole car. That's not allowed.

The short answer to your question is that there are no Chinese EVs running in Taiwan.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Thank you for that answer.

To confirm, is the reason for that based on national security concerns or other concerns that you have?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

It's based on national security concerns.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

What about drones? Is the Taiwanese government allowed to fly or use drones that are built in China, whether it's for the police force or military purposes?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

There is a very important base to talking about imports from China to Taiwan. The most important concern for Taiwan is that we must make sure that they come from a non-red supply chain. This means that if there is a Chinese-made component in a product, government agencies in Taiwan are not allowed to use it at all.

We don't really restrict individuals using drones in Taiwan, but there is very strong control. Drones are not the same as EVs. Drone regulations in Taiwan are getting stricter, but you still see some Taiwanese citizens being able to buy drones from the U.S. or China. That has to be sanctioned and approved on a case-by-case basis.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Thank you very much.

Not that long ago, the RCMP had to take about 30 million dollars' worth of drones out of regular service over concerns about national security.

Do you also have Chinese drone restrictions because they are a national security concern?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

I believe that is the most important reason we put a very strong restriction on them.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Thank you.

We talk a lot about prices. Affordability is a big issue for Canadians. One of the things that help with affordability is making more goods available, as an example.

I want to talk about flights. It is my understanding that more flights between Canada and Taiwan—Taipei to Vancouver, or Toronto to Taipei—would increase competition on those routes. Is that correct?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

I agree.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Do you think Canadians looking to travel, or businesses looking to make investments, check on their own operations or meet new suppliers, could find cheaper flights because of competition? Is that your understanding?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

Yes.

I believe the members here are aware that Air Canada used to fly to Taiwan. That was before the pandemic. Now, three years after the pandemic ended, two Taiwanese airlines have resumed normal operations to Canada. One is China Airlines and the other is the EVA Air. These two airlines fly 21 flights weekly to Canada. The occupation rate of these two airlines is as high as 90%. They are full.

It is very important for us that there is a new airline in Taiwan called Starlux. They are hoping to join the market. Our big hope, as a matter of fact, is that Air Canada will fly to Taiwan. That would be very welcome. Before you do that.... The market is still available, but we have one more airline coming in, and that is Starlux. They also want one flight a day to Canada, if that is possible.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Thank you.

More flights and more competition mean lower prices for consumers. If Air Canada is not interested in bringing back that route, we should not allow them to block another carrier from filling that service.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you.

Madame Lapointe, you have five minutes.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I would like to welcome the witnesses and thank them for being here. What they are explaining to us is very interesting.

I will now provide some context.

My riding, Rivière‑des‑Mille‑Îles, is located north of Montreal. My region does a lot of agri-food processing. In fact, you mentioned the fact that we have a lot of economic ties in terms of agri-food. It isn't just the transportation sector, but also everything related to the aerospace field. The entire supply chain is next door. I'm thinking of Airbus and Bell Helicopter in particular.

You just mentioned the Starlux airline. You're no doubt aware that there has just been an agreement between Airbus and AirAsia to buy 150 new A220 aircraft. I'm just throwing that out there, if you're interested. Since you're concerned about a new airline, it would be interesting for you to look at what is being done in Quebec and Canada.

In terms of what's currently happening with trade between Taiwan and Canada, and given that the bilateral agreement hasn't been signed yet, how does that work right now?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

We have already touched upon this. As I said—and I'm sorry to repeat this—the ball is in your court. You have a very good understanding of this. In our view, the text and the legal procedures have been largely completed.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I understand that, but as far as trade is concerned, are there any tariffs right now?

If the bilateral agreement were signed, would the tariffs be eliminated?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

Thank you for the clarification.

This TCFA will not touch on tariffs. This is not an FTA. This is actually a framework. The best way to understand a TCFA is as a building block-type of framework. You have a framework, and then you add one piece at a time. It's very important for the bureaucracies of the two governments to have a platform to work with. That's why I said in the opening remarks that this is for the purpose of establishing an institutional framework in order to facilitate trade, investment and supply chain integration, as well as the resilience between our two economies. There are many things that can happen, and we have tested it.

You are from Montreal. You know that one of the major investments we carried out in 2024—that was a year after we signed a FIPA—was a merger. A Taiwan company called WT Microelectronics acquired the Montreal-based Future Electronics for $3.8 billion U.S., with the purpose of setting up a world-class electronic distribution platform. The aim is to set up dual headquarters in Montreal and Taipei. I have visited Future Electronics. It's still called Future Electronics. All the management team and employees stayed there. It's only that the boss is now in Taiwan. We have very good interactions between Taipei and Montreal, partially because of that existence. I'm very hopeful that we will see even more Taiwanese investment coming to Canada.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you. That's interesting. I appreciate you explaining everything to do with artificial intelligence and all that. We know that Montreal is a major hub.

I'm going to come back to the question my colleague Ms. Sima Acan asked earlier, because I know you ran out of time. She spoke a lot about synergy and the opportunities available. You mentioned having investments in Canada.

Could you give us more details on that question, since you didn't have time to answer it?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

The reason I used the word “synergy” is that what I said.... Your strength lies in the upstream of the supply chain, and ours lies in the midstream to downstream. By “upstream”, I mean your clean energy, your critical minerals, your agricultural products and your AI research. These are all world class. This is very competitive. In Taiwan, our strength is in precision manufacturing, as well as in the semiconductor foundry and packaging and in electronics contract manufacturing. This is what you don't have. We need what you have. This is why I say there is a natural synergy between us.

We started by talking about only 0.5% of your total global trade. Our bilateral trade takes up such a small percentage of your global trade. It's because there are so many opportunities not explored. If we can have that change, we will see an entirely different landscape.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

We have time for one or two questions. Does anybody have a burning question they would like to ask? Are there any outstanding questions? We have enough time for one question—but not too long.