Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the work of Weldon Epp, director general of the north Asia and Oceania branch, and Jordan Reeves, the executive director of the Canadian trade office in Taipei. They are doing a great job representing our interests in Asia at a challenging time.

Foreign Affairs committee  Do you mean if there's a conflict?

Foreign Affairs committee  Not for now. The tension is political and we're not yet in a situation where we have a credible military intervention, so the effect is minimal. If we think in the long term, in as much as the threat appears more credible, that's going to factor into our long-term planning.

Foreign Affairs committee  If we maintain and improve in our relations, I don't see a risk unless your hypothesis is that there's a military intervention by China. Of course, that is a serious risk, but this is not where we are now. In the current level of our informal relations with Taiwan, there's no risk that I envision realistically.

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't have expertise in that domain. I would not speculate too much, except to say that TSMC, Taiwan's main maker of semiconductors, controls 65% of the world market. There are other Taiwanese firms, so Taiwan, in the whole industry, controls 85% of the global market.

Foreign Affairs committee  Taiwan qualifies already. There's no question about that. China does not qualify, so we have an obvious political issue here, except that we already have some international or transnational agreements where you have membership that is not limited to states. For example, we have Taiwan's customs territory in the World Trade Organization.

Foreign Affairs committee  What would be the...?

Foreign Affairs committee  That would contribute to the decline of our reputation as supportive of democracies.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think that the idea of grouping with like-minded countries makes sense, but maybe I would change the word “combat”. I would say, just make sense and try to make convincing arguments. I like the way my colleague Joe Wong approached the question. He's talking about inducement. Like-minded countries come together vis-à-vis China to say that they might consider doing different policies and doing things differently, and will co-operate better, if China makes our preferred changes.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think it depends on our political will. Are we willing to support Taiwan's admission to the CPTPP? I hope that we will, in a nutshell.

Foreign Affairs committee  That's an approach that has worked well so far, but that's an approach that is now showing its limits. I think we ought to move to a policy of clarity. Japan is moving in this direction. Canada is not in the same position as Japan or the United States. We're not a military power; however, in terms of co-operation in many areas, I think we should have a policy of clarity saying that, if China misbehaves in the Taiwan Strait, Canada should perhaps reconsider or downgrade some forms of co-operation.

Foreign Affairs committee  For Japan, yes, I definitely see that, but for South Korea, I'm hesitant to answer because South Korea has concerns with North Korea. South Korea also does not want to antagonize China. It also has its own economic relationship with China. At the end of the day, I think that South Korea realizes that its security is better protected by reinforcing its co-operation with Japan and the United States.

Foreign Affairs committee  That brings me back to what I said initially. It's not a legal fiction. The Republic of China has existed since 1911 and took refuge in Taiwan. Taiwan is a geographical name, and the Republic of China still exists. Taiwan's president, Tsai Ing‑wen, is fully aware that, if she decided to change the country's name tomorrow, it would spark nothing short of a war.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's possible, just as it would be for a European country, for instance. China is a nation, in English and in French, but it also refers to a culture, and the Taiwanese openly admit that. Even though the most recent figures show that 64% of them identify as Taiwanese whereas only 20% identify as both Chinese and Taiwanese, the Chinese identity still matters.

Foreign Affairs committee  You're dragging me into some—