Foreign Affairs committee  With respect, I'm not sure I would entirely agree with the premise of the question. What's on the record is that Minister Sajjan, then minister of defence, made it clear to Parliament that the Government of Canada supports the Halifax international symposium and will continue to do so, and that the decisions taken by that independent Canadian conference or institution will remain independent, including who they invite to meetings and who they choose to provide awards or recognition to.

Foreign Affairs committee  That's a big question, but I'd like to thank the member for it. I would like to speak to that in a couple of ways. I'll also take the opportunity to return to the question of the Canadian mandates in letters to ministers and the statement in the Speech from the Throne of the desire to comport with an Indo-Pacific strategy, as the member raised.

Foreign Affairs committee  To my knowledge, they have not.

Foreign Affairs committee  There is no specificity in our one China policy that would preclude it.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, with your permission, I'll turn to my colleague Kevin Hamilton to respond to that.

Foreign Affairs committee  To my knowledge, apart from ongoing engagement, including by me and other members of senior management within our department, most recently through the annual Canada-Taiwan economic co-operation platform—our annual joint planning council—it would be at the assistant deputy minister level.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, perhaps I'll pause there and turn it back to you.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, let me make a quick response to that, and then I'd like to turn it over to the executive director of our CTO team in Taipei to speak to the latter part of the question. Obviously Canada, with others, has spoken out, is on the record and has taken policy decisions to respond to the deterioration of rights and freedoms under the implementation of the national security law in Hong Kong.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, I'd like to speak to that. I have very limited time, but I won't speak to the hypothetical various future scenarios. China, in its own words, has never ruled out, never precluded, using force to reunify with Taiwan, and Canada is deeply concerned by recent activities.

Foreign Affairs committee  We need to be frank here. Whether it's think tanks, academics or governments, we are all monitoring developments in Ukraine, not least for the question you're raising. It's very dynamic, of course, and I'm not going to speak to how the government would respond or what we assess to be the likelihood of that impact at this time.

Foreign Affairs committee  As we know, and as the member mentioned, colleagues from Global Affairs Canada were before the committee recently to speak about the situation in Ukraine. I know that the comparison with Taiwan came up in that context. It's very much a discussion point. I would say that this committee and Global Affairs—the government—are very alive to that issue.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, I'd be happy to take that question in the first instance and turn to my colleague, our head of mission in Taipei, to elaborate. Canada has repeatedly stated, both through the Prime Minister's own statements and those of various other ministers, and also through our positions taken at relevant international organizations, that the Canadian position is that we welcome the participation of Taiwan in the international community and in organizations where the context permits and the interest of the international community in having the participation of Taiwan's 24 million people at the table merits it.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's a development that we are monitoring very closely. We take note of the statements released. Canada is concerned with a growing disruption to long-standing principles and practice in international law. The Canadian government, with partners, has repeatedly spoken out, both bilaterally and through fora like the G7, whether with respect to activities by the Chinese government that break rules and norms in international law, or those of the Russian government.

Foreign Affairs committee  I will turn to my colleague from our trade policy branch for that please, Mr. Chair.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, I'll turn to my colleague, Ms. Speirs, again in a moment to speak to developments in trade policy. I'd like to say at the top that Canada has a very robust relationship and strong interest in promoting more integration of our trade relationship with Taiwan. Taiwan plays an incredibly important role in global supply chains, not least in the tech sector.