Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much for the question. For one thing, it's not a constitutional principle. The phrase “one country, two systems” is a political statement. It's a political statement that Xi Jinping has simply decided to reject. He's given up on this principle because that's no lo

Foreign Affairs committee  I don't necessarily share my colleague's optimism. I think that Xi Jinping has shortened the calendar of when he wants to arrive at a solution, in his view, about unification or annexation. The question is what methods he will use. One of the reasons for the optimism is that tra

Foreign Affairs committee  Unfortunately, sometimes it's also contributing to each side knowing each other better. There was some disenchantment from many Taiwanese businessmen in China, who did not always have positive experiences. It's not necessarily the case that trade between the two sides has improve

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

Foreign Affairs committee  You're dragging me into some—

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, the European idea works in a broad sense.

Foreign Affairs committee  Are you talking about the issue of identity in Taiwan?

Foreign Affairs committee  Canada is in a particular place and we have to be more prudent because of our limited capacity, but Canada certainly should, I think, be clear about this idea that whatever understanding that China and Taiwan eventually arrive at should be through peaceful means. There's a recog

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 dec

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;

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 Sout

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 ri

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 T

Foreign Affairs committee  What would be the...?