International Trade Committee on May 26th, 2026

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

I must point out that the media has, in my view, played up a bit too much the consequences that could come after the visit.

From the Taiwanese perspective, we are very confident that the relations between Taiwan and the U.S. will move on very strongly. Marco Rubio and Mr. Trump, during their time in Beijing and afterward, also reaffirmed that U.S. policy toward Taiwan has remained unchanged.

Some people are concerned about the stall or holdup of the arms procurement to Taiwan. As a matter of fact, it has happened before. I mean that when it comes to arms deals, you are not buying something that's already finished. You are not buying something off the shelf that you can choose from. You are placing a new contract for a long period of manufacturing and production, and the timing of the delivery would vary according to the geopolitical situation.

As a short answer to your question, the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing did not really affect Taiwan very much. We are very confident. As a matter of fact, I have no concern, and the six assurances between Taiwan and the United States will stay intact after that visit as well.

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

An agreement with Taiwan had existed since April 2025—not April of this year, but the year before that. The only thing missing was the Prime Minister's signature. In other words, it was sitting on the Prime Minister's desk. That came to light a month and a half or two months ago, if I'm not mistaken. You spoke to that at length. I too spoke about that to demand that the agreement be signed quickly.

Have you had any signals about that since then?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

I answered a similar question just now. I would like to repeat that the text of the arrangement and the legal review of that has largely been completed. This is a document that is not going to incur legislative complexity from either House here.

The key word in the TCFA is in the “F”, the framework. We are taking an approach where we want to have a framework first to facilitate practical co-operation and policy coordination between our two sides. We know that this kind of agreement is always very conducive, because we saw so many positive results after the signing of FIPA in 2023. We had major investments in Canada in 2024, 2025 and into early this year. There's a huge investment from Taiwan.

If we had a TCFA in place, I believe that it would generate a lot of momentum from Taiwan as well as from Canada. That's what we are looking for.

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

I'm going to move slightly away from the trade side of things now, but there is a connection. I'll come back to that more explicitly afterward.

We know that military drones are currently being detected regularly around Taiwan, particularly when it comes to identifying the air defence zone. Taiwanese authorities have also reported a number of recent Chinese military exercises involving air operations, naval deployments and exercises simulating encirclement or blockade operations.

Are you seeing an escalation right now?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

Yes, it is something we are very concerned about. We invite the whole world to really look into what China has been doing in the waters surrounding Taiwan. These military exercises are becoming more and more like a rehearsal for a real war.

Now, don't take me the wrong way, that Taiwan is a very risky place and a war is imminent. That's not what I'm saying. However, China is making all possible preparations to make these military exercises like a rehearsal of a kinetic war. We cannot afford to be complacent or less than vigilant on a daily basis.

Thank you for bringing this up.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

We will now go to Mr. McKenzie for five minutes, please.

[David McKenzie, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My thanks to the witnesses. It's a pleasure to have you here and to receive the information that you're able to provide to the committee.

I say often that I'm the only member here, I do believe, from western Canada. I'm from the province of Alberta, and one thing we're very engaged in there is energy.

[Kelly McCauley, Conservative, Edmonton West, AB]

I'm here, Dave.

[David McKenzie, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

Oh, I'm sorry. I beg your pardon. I have a stand-in here who's also from my neck of the woods.

You have my apologies, Mr. McCauley.

On the subject of energy, in particular foreign direct investment into Canada and Canadian investment in energy projects in Taiwan, I wonder if you could comment on some of the investments that have been made reciprocally between our two countries and what the prospects are for future opportunities.

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

Food security and energy security are the two most important issues that we are looking at in Taiwan.

We're not really in the coming of the age of AI; we are already in the age of AI. Because of that fact, Taiwan is facing a growing challenge in the demand for energy and electricity. You have energy, LNG and oil. You have electricity, clean energy and all kinds of resources to generate power in Canada. There is a natural synergy here that hasn't happened yet, but we really want to see that. This is something we can work together on.

I talked about the AI data centre. You need to have an AI data centre to make AI possible. Canada is an ideal place. I believe many of you are very much aware of this. We need somewhere like Alberta, where it cools everything down. You need something to cool it down. The natural environment is better than anything.

If there is a possibility to talk about a data centre.... I'm being very specific here, but this is one example. This is also to answer your question about the investments we have seen in the past two or three years. They are not in the energy sectors. They are more in the ICT sectors and AI-related.

[David McKenzie, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

Thank you. I appreciate that comprehensive answer.

I'm thinking in particular of the status of the nuclear energy industry in Taiwan and where your directions are. I'm sure you're aware that the province of Saskatchewan in particular is a very significant global producer of uranium for power generation. Is that a growing opportunity for Canadian companies in Taiwan?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

This is actually a sensitive issue in Taiwan. I say “sensitive” because there is a division in terms of public opinion. For several years, to make Taiwan a nuclear-free homeland has been our policy and our vision, because we have a very small island. If any nuclear accidents happen.... Look at what happened in Japan.

In the past, in almost a decade, I think, we have been phasing out nuclear power and developing renewable energy. There is a major Canadian investment by Northland Power in Taiwan, in wind power, which is very important, but again, with AI.... The renewable energy—wind power and solar power—is not sufficient to generate enough of the electricity we need to use, and now we are talking about a new age where we can have better technology to keep nuclear power safe. It's very important. We are not.... This issue of uranium from Canada is not unvisited on our side. We are actually looking at the possibility. We are also looking at new energies like hydrogen, which also is a potential strength of Canada, but there is nothing on a commercial scale yet.

[David McKenzie, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

Would I be correct in assuming that if Canada is capable of increasing our export capacity both for crude oil and for liquefied natural gas, Taiwan would be a customer for those products?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

We are in need of those products, for sure. This is a time when so many countries are, I'm sorry to say, looking for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and energy is a hot pursuit, hot in the market. I would say that if there is a commodity on the market, we would be very interested.

[David McKenzie, Conservative, Calgary Signal Hill, AB]

Thank you very much.

Madam Chair—

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

I have Ms. Acan, please, for five minutes.

[Sima Acan, Liberal, Oakville West, ON]

Thank you so much, Madam Chair.

Thank you very much for joining us today.

As I had a technical background coming into politics, this is a very interesting area for me. I will be focusing on ICT with my questions.

Canada is exploring making the Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre an independent entity, with some industry voices comparing this to Taiwan's approach in building the TSMC and its broader semiconductor ecosystem.

Taiwan has developed a world-leading innovation system linking academia, government and manufacturing. What key lessons or best practices would you recommend for countries like Canada that are seeking to strengthen domestic high-tech manufacturing capacity, scale fabrication capabilities and develop highly skilled talent pipelines? Could you please share Taiwan's experience and the key lessons you've learned?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

Thank you, Madam, for your question.

Last year we released a documentary introducing the way in which the semiconductor industry started from scratch in Taiwan. The TSMC was only established in 1987, but as a matter of fact, in Taiwan we started our semiconductor industry in the 1970s, when Japan was the world's number one. In terms of manufacturing power, Japan was number one. Taiwan had an impact on the supply chain through packaging and testing, which is what we are very good at. Even today, when most people think Taiwan is strong in manufacturing, we are still the world's number one in testing and packaging as well. The TSMC is the world's number one.

There is actually no secret to Taiwan's success in the semiconductor industry. It takes a government to have a vision. I just wrote an op-ed to share that. There are some allegations that Taiwan stole technology from the U.S. and all that. I clarified that. Back in 1976, Taiwan's ITRI, or Industrial Technology Research Institute, sent 20 young engineers to an American company called RCA, or Radio Corporation of America. At that time, RCA was the most powerful company producing the IC, the integrated circuit. We paid $3.5 million U.S. for both the technology transfer and the licensing. Altogether, it was a $10-million U.S. project that our government presented to start to develop our electronic industry from scratch.

It's very important to have a vision. You need to have coherence and resolve. Coherence and resolve are very important. You always need to come back to those. There is a long story behind that and the work ethic we have. We are also very fortunate that the world seems to be moving to the stage where the semiconductor is needed everywhere. We started a semiconductor without knowing this beforehand. We couldn't foresee that decades ago. I always say that Taiwan's development of the ICT industry starts from ICT or information and communications technology, goes to IoT or the Internet of things, and then to AIoT today, which is AI plus IoT. We didn't know that it would evolve to this situation today, but we are very lucky that this is a time when we can show our resilience.

[Sima Acan, Liberal, Oakville West, ON]

As AI is evolving, data centres are at the core of advanced communications systems. What role do photonics and advanced semiconductor packaging technologies play in the future of ICT products? How can countries like Canada better position themselves to integrate into these high-value global innovation and manufacturing ecosystems?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

It's such a long question. I have to say that I will need a short answer for that very long question, if that's possible.

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

Okay.

To make a long story short, I just want to say that between Taiwan and Canada, there is a natural synergy and complementarity, especially when it comes to AI-related industries. We haven't visited this part of the potential very much yet.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Savard-Tremblay, you have two and a half minutes, please.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I will continue the discussion where it left off.

As we know, the transit of Canada's frigates through the Taiwan Strait is important for maintaining peace and stability in the region. It's one of the busiest freight shipping lanes in the world. That makes the location crucial.

Do you think the risks are significant?

Have there been any incidents involving Canada's frigates?

Do you have any recommendations on that?

[Harry Ho-jen Tseng]

First of all, I recognize, and I agree, that this Canadian naval warship transit in the Taiwan Strait is very important, because you are transiting through international waters that China claims are internal waters, which is not acceptable in the rules-based international community. You are defying what China says about these being its internal waters through your actions, and we appreciate that very much.

I understand that since 2018, so since before the pandemic, you have made 11 transits altogether through the Taiwan Strait. Most of the time, it was side by side with U.S. navel ships. In recent years, you have done it once by yourself. More recently, you did it with Australia. Of the 11 times, you have done it seven times since the announcement of the Indo-Pacific strategy, and we appreciate that very much.

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

Do I have any time left, Madam Chair?