I must admit that we didn't have the opportunity to get a sense of what all the rest of the partners are doing with Taiwan when we were there.
In the security and defence domains, clearly our policies have been restrictive rather than permissive. I think we should be moving in a direction where, if peace, stability and security in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific are the first objectives of our Indo-Pacific strategy, we should think about the relationship we have with Taiwan from that perspective. I can attest to the fact that, at Defence and in the Canadian Armed Forces—at least when I was serving—we had no relationship with Taiwan, and no intersections with them.
That's where I would start with our engagement, at least in the defence and security sectors. Look at policy and military staff connections to identify opportunities we might have with them. I can think of all kinds, whether it be for humanitarian assistance, disaster relief or military conscription. They're having struggles with their training. They're not an operationally experienced military. They are defensive and reacting to the probes they've gotten. Ultimately, in the conduct of operations, they would benefit from partners other than the United States helping them with their institutional development and the strengthening of their armed forces.
There are many things that could be done, but we have to start talking to them before we can identify what the real issues are and where we can add some real value for them.