China accuses Canadian MPs of foreign interference after report saying Taiwan should decide its own future

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The Chinese government is accusing Canada of foreign interference, after a high-profile parliamentary committee released a report that says the Taiwanese people, rather than Beijing, should decide the fate of the self-ruled island.

The report on Taiwan by the House of Commons special committee on the Canada-People’s Republic of China relationship also urges the Canadian government to make efforts to join AUKUS, a United States-Britiain-Australia defence pact that has been condemned by Beijing as an “Asia-Pacific version of NATO.”

The report, tabled in the House last week, calls on the Canadian government to “declare its clear and unwavering commitment that the future of Taiwan must only be the decision of the people of Taiwan.” Liberal MP Ken Hardie, who chairs the Canada-China committee, said it was unanimously supported by all parties.

Later this month, 10 Canadian MPs will visit Taiwan, including Liberals, Conservatives, New Democrats and members of the Bloc Québécois. The trip is intended as a gesture of solidarity with a territory under threat from Beijing.

In August, in response to a visit to Taiwan from then-U.S. House speaker Nancy Pelosi, China surrounded the island with warships and held live-fire exercises that included launching ballistic missiles. Military experts said the drill resembled training for a blockade of Taiwan.

The House of Commons report urges a significant strengthening of ties between Canada and Taiwan, and it says Ottawa should push for Taipei’s inclusion in multilateral bodies – from which it is often blocked by Beijing – and “strongly consider” diplomatic visits to the territory of 24 million people.

Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province. But the Chinese Communist Party has never ruled the island, where nationalist forces retreated after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong more than 70 years ago. The CCP has not ruled out using force to annex Taiwan, a democracy.

In recent years Beijing has ramped up efforts to isolate Taiwan from the international community, including by denying it the chance to participate in global bodies, such as the World Health Organization’s regular assemblies, and by persuading countries that recognize Taiwan as a sovereign country to sever relations.

In 2000, Taiwan had diplomatic relations with 29 member states of the United Nations, as well as the Vatican. Today the number is down to 12, plus the Vatican.

Canada has not recognized Taiwan as a sovereign state since 1970, when former prime minister Pierre Trudeau switched diplomatic relations to the Communist-led People’s Republic of China.

But Taipei has been working to maintain robust informal ties with Western liberal democracies, as well as Asian countries such as Japan.

The MPs’ report notes that Canada has never endorsed Beijing’s claim to Taiwan. It says Ottawa’s “One China policy” means Canada recognizes the People’s Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of China. But the policy makes no judgment on Taiwan.

In a 1970 communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, Canada did not validate Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is an “inalienable part” of its territory. The document says Canada “takes note of this position.”

The Chinese embassy in Canada said in a statement that it “strongly deplores” the Commons report, which it characterized as being replete with “wild talks on Taiwan-related issues” and political manipulation. The embassy said the report is an attempt to “grossly interfere in China’s internal affairs,” which it said “constitutes a flagrant provocation to the Chinese people.”

It accused the House committee of acting in league with the U.S. “Some Canadian politicians have been getting swayed by the U.S. and making trouble,” the embassy said.

“The Taiwan question is purely China’s internal affair,” the embassy added. “Resolving the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese and brooks no foreign interference.”

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Canada-China relations, already badly damaged by the seizure and lengthy imprisonment of two Canadian citizens in China after Canada’s arrest of a Huawei executive in British Columbia, have continued to ebb after The Globe and Mail and other media published reports about efforts by the Chinese government to meddle in Canadian politics. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has launched three separate closed-door probes into that foreign interference. Opposition parties are calling for a public inquiry.

Michael Chong, the Conservative foreign affairs critic and a member of the Canada-China committee, is among those who will visit Taiwan next week.

He said China is wrong to describe the Commons report as interference. “Foreign interference has three characteristics: it’s covert, it’s coercive and it’s corrupting. And our report is none of those things,” Mr. Chong said.

The report also calls on Canada to enter into formal negotiations with Taiwan on a foreign investment promotion and protection agreement, or FIPA, that could stimulate two-way trade by enshrining legal protections for Canadian investors in Taiwan, and vice-versa.

It also asks Canada to encourage parliamentary delegations to visit Taiwan, and to pursue a critical minerals supply agreement with Taipei.