President Tsai meets Canadian delegation led by Member of Parliament Judy Sgro, Oct 11, 2022.

Written by: William Ging Wee Dere

Canada is vying to be the top attack dog for the Americans against China. With the defeat of Australia’s Scott Morrison government and the ascent of the Labour administration of Anthony Albanese, that country is adjusting its bearings between further antagonizing China in the service of the US or to normalize its relations in order to bring its trade with China back to an even keel. Prior to the election of Morrison in 2018, China was Australia’s largest two-way trading partner in goods and services accounting to 31 per cent of its trade with the world. The two countries signed a free trade pact in 2015, the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

Under the warmongering administration of the Morrison government which was in lockstep with the US Cold War against China, Australia’s trade with China tumbled to 25.9 per cent. During the height of Australia’s belligerence against China, Australia entered into the nuclear proliferation agreement with the US and the UK called AUKUS.

The Trudeau government is opportunistically seeking to fill the void being momentarily left by the Australians as the top dog behind American Indo-Pacific policy. There is no doubt that Sgro’s Taiwan visit, as Chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade, under the guise of trade and promotion of democracy had the full support of Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and his foreign minister Mélanie Joly. Sgro is also the Chair of the Taiwan-Canada Parliamentary Friendship Group.

The five-member delegation which included MP’s from the Bloc Québécois and the Conservatives, is ideologically driven and acts as a provocation against China. Sgro arrived in Taiwan province for the “Double Ten” (October 10) to celebrate the 111th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China by Sun Yat-sen after waging a successful anti-feudal, anti-imperialist revolution to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. “Double-Ten” is Taiwan province’s official holiday.

Sgro seems to be more interested in developing trade with the Chinese province of Taiwan than with Mainland China. She made it clear that she supports Taiwan province’s application to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and other international organisms which violates the “one China” policy accepted 50 years ago by Canada and the whole international community. Only 13 small states still maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan province.

The Canadian delegation to Taiwan province comes two months after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s provocative visit which was followed by other delegations from the European Union which significantly raised international tension. China has always opposed these official delegations as gross interference into China’s domestic affairs and a violation of the “One China” policy. More seriously, the Canadian visit like other visits lend support and encouragement to the Taiwan separatist movement. The present ruling party of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is pro-independence.

The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa issued a statement to condemn Sgro’s visit: "Despite China’s stern position, Judy A. Sgro and 4 other Canadian parliament members persist in visiting the Taiwan region of China, which blatantly violates the one-China principle, grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs and sends a seriously wrong signal to the “Taiwan independence” separatist forces." Furthermore, "China firmly opposes this and have made solemn representation to the Canada side and will continue to take resolute and strong measures to defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity and oppose the interference by external forces in China's internal affairs."

The Canadian government pays lip service to improving trade relations with China. The Trudeau government is stalled on trying to negotiate a free trade agreement with China. In Q2 2022, Canada’s exports to China continued to decline after years of growth in the past. According to Statistics Canada, “Exports to China were down year-on-year in all three months of Q2: a large drop in April 2022 (-14.4% Year over Year) was followed by another large drop in May (-19.3% YoY) and then a smaller drop in June (-8.8% YoY).”

The Trudeau government is following the disastrous Trump administrations efforts to isolate China through trade policies. Sgro’s visit is meant to to improve trade relations with Taiwan province, while it simultaneously angers a larger and more beneficial trading partner in China. The Canadian people will suffer as a consequence in the same way that the American people ended up paying for the Trump tariffs on Chinese goods.

The Canadian government is trading the Canadian people’s economic livelihood and international peace by being the sidekick to US hegemony. Canada is pursuing a belligerent foreign policy through its membership in NATO. In September, the Canadian frigate Vancouver joined an American destroyer to sail through the Taiwan Strait, which China claimed was a violation of its territorial integrity. It was the second time in a month that the US ship sailed through the Strait, and it was the second time this year for a Canadian warship. During the summer of 2022, Canada was second in command of the US led RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific) military exercises.

The Canadian peace movement has denounced this provocative trip by Sgro to Taiwan province. The Canada-Wide Peace and Justice Network issued a statement to oppose the delegation. It states, the visit, “will inevitably worsen Canadian relations with China, our second largest trading partner, and raise tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, which could easily lead to war.” Sgro and Pelosi’s delegations, “were both designed to isolate and weaken China and sow the kind of instability that results in increased US and Canadian arms sale abroad. … All in all, however, Canada is sacrificing 50 years of prosperity with China to jump on the US war wagon.”

This network is organizing a day-long teach-in on Saturday, October 22, from 10 AM to 3:30 PM, with an online viewing option also available. The Canada Files is the media sponsor for this event. One of the workshops will be on "Taiwan and China's Challenge to NATO Hegemony."

This event is part of the North American Week of Action for Peace, October 15 – 23. Find the event details linked here.

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William Ging Wee Dere is a member of The Canada Files’ Advisory Board. He is the author of the award-winning “Being Chinese in Canada, The Struggle for Identity, Redress and Belonging.” (Douglas & McIntyre, 2019). He was a political organizer and a leading activist in the 2-decade movement for redress of the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act. He is a member of the Progressive Chinese of Quebec.

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