International Trade committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. In the fall of 2005, I led our advocacy team at the Washington embassy. Softwood lumber was a top priority, and our ambassador, Frank McKenna, asked me when our troubles over lumber began. I called the Librarian of Congress. A couple of days later, he said their research showed that timber merchants in northern Massachusetts—what is now Maine—successfully petitioned Congress during the second administration of George Washington to impose levies—or tariffs, as we call them today—on New Brunswick timber sent to Boston to be used in shipbuilding.

Canada-China Relations committee  China won't like it, but remember that when China came into the World Trade Organization and they were part of that, we recognized plurilateral trade agreements. Taiwan is also part of the World Trade Organization, so you can argue that it's simply a continuation of something that China has already agreed to do.

Canada-China Relations committee  Sure. I think that university presidents' going and doing, kind of, marketing with, perhaps, provincial ministers would be a good thing. Again, the people-to-people ties.... That is our great asset in the world. One of our great assets is that our universities and higher education are highly regarded.

Canada-China Relations committee  The answer to your question is yes. We do have to be quite diplomatic and circumspect in how we do things because we do not want to see Canadians once again taken hostage. The way around that, in my view, is with diplomacy. We now have a new ambassador in Beijing, which is good, because she will get access to levels that others could not get access to.

Canada-China Relations committee  Thank you. Under the current circumstances, China would not pass the test of joining the CPTPP when it comes to state-owned enterprises and transparency. It won't be a question; we won't have to choose. Taiwan, in my belief, and from what I've seen, would qualify. We wouldn't be put in that position of having to choose between one or the other, because you have to reach a certain standard.

Canada-China Relations committee  Again, I think there's an awful lot we can learn. I think our officials and our representative offices in Taiwan are exploring it. Again, I would recommend that members of Parliament, this committee, visit Taiwan and make that one of their stops. Certainly, my experience when I visited Taiwan was that they shared an awful lot, and I learned an awful lot.

Canada-China Relations committee  Okay. Is that better?

Canada-China Relations committee  Okay. Sure. Yes, I agree with Professor Lam. I also sit on the defence advisory board, which reports to the deputy minister of National Defence and the chief of the defence staff. I recently participated in a project—this is not secret—looking at disinformation. Just to answer the question, I learned an awful lot.

Canada-China Relations committee  Thank you, sir. Yes, I'm a former diplomat, so I put the first emphasis on diplomacy, but as I was saying to Mr. Chong, you need hard power to back up the soft power approach that is traditionally our approach. That means engagement. I strongly believe that we should engage on issues that we can work on with the People's Republic of China.

Canada-China Relations committee  Our first concern always, sir, is our citizens. We have a good team in Taiwan. A number of Canadians are there. There are those with links to Canada as a consequence of student ties and immigration. The first thing is to make plans for the worst case, which I think is something we should be doing.

Canada-China Relations committee  I think we're going to see an Indo-Pacific strategy in, I hope, the coming weeks; it's been promised for some time. I hope there is a component in there that includes a significant reinvestment in our deterrent capacity, particularly as it relates to our military. I do think that's what counts.

Canada-China Relations committee  Sure. I'll be very brief. It all comes down to cyber. I think just as our banks are hardening themselves, and our governments have appreciated intrusions, so should broader businesses as well that do any kind of business there—our farm agri-food industry, for example, and our energy industry.

Canada-China Relations committee  Sir, I think that there's certainly a great concern that it will happen. I think what you're going to see—and it's already started—is the effort to turn Taiwan into a porcupine, as they say, which is to provide it with enough capacity that it would be very expensive for the Chinese to invade.

Canada-China Relations committee  Chair, thank you. I made my first visit to Taiwan in the spring of 1988, six months after being posted as consul to the British Crown colony of Hong Kong. Hong Kong was China's entrepôt to the world and our best entree into the rest of Asia. It was also home to an expatriate population of Canadians that, after the Tiananmen Square massacre when Hong Kongers flocked to Canada, is now the largest in Asia.

National Defence committee  You have to look at the terms and conditions under which people serve, and that should take in all those groups we've been talking about, because they vary. The other piece I would suggest we need to look at is the recruitment. There, I would certainly endorse Professor Leuprecht's suggestion of looking at the German model, I think he said, in terms of bringing people in at the lieutenant colonel level.