Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said on Nov. 28 that it welcomed the new policy directions outlined in Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, which identifies China as “an increasingly disruptive global power.”
The ministry pledged to strengthen partnership with Canada, noting that “Taiwan and Canada are like-minded partners, share the values of freedom and democracy, and work jointly to safeguard the rules-based international order.”
In its 26-page document, Canada criticized China for its “assertive pursuit of its economic and security interests, advancement of unilateral claims, foreign interference, and increasingly coercive treatment of other countries.”
The country pledged to balance its approach to China with diversified investments in regional ties and oppose unilateral actions that threaten the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, as well as the East and South China Seas.
“Canada will, at all times, unapologetically defend our national interest, be it with regard to the global rules that govern global trade, international human rights or navigation and overflight rights,” the document reads. “Our approach to China is shaped by a realistic and clear-eyed assessment of today’s China.”
In response, the Chinese Communist Party strongly opposed Canada’s new strategy and claimed that Canada’s interpretation of its domestic and foreign policies, as well as the perception of the Communist Party leadership, are “completely wrong.”
