On May 20, Taiwan instated its new president, Lai Ching-te, who said in his inauguration speech that in the face of the “many threats” from China, “we must demonstrate our resolution to defend our nation.”
The speech from Lai, who hails from the same Democratic Progressive Party as his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, predictably rattled Beijing, with its Taiwan Affairs Office accusing Lai of “stubbornly [insisting] on ... Taiwanese independence.”
Lai, unlike Tsai, did not mention the so-called ‘1992 Consensus,’ a nebulous arrangement for managing cross-strait ties. This may worry Beijing, which could see the omission as a subtle departure from cross-strait continuity. Lai did pledge to maintain the “status quo” on cross-strait relations. But as one expert told the South China Morning Post, for Beijing, the status quo represents “an unacceptable drift towards Taiwan independence.”
Beijing backed up its pointed rhetoric with two days of military drills starting Thursday. The drills encircled Taiwan and involved China’s army, navy, and air force.
Dialogue and dining mark MPs’ Taiwan visit
An 11-member Canadian delegation was in Taipei for the inauguration. Liberal MP Judy Sgro — who leads the Canada-Taiwan Friendship Group — headed the delegation. Lai warmly received the group and tweeted that he looked forward to “expanding bilateral exchanges.”
Lai “expressed hope” that Canada, as 2024 chair of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Commission, would support Taiwan’s bid to join the 11-member trade deal. CPTPP members have sat on accession requests from Taiwan and China for nearly three years.
Taiwan’s foreign minister hosted the Canadian delegation for a banquet earlier in the week. Guests dined on grouper fish, a tongue-in-cheek nod to Beijing, which abruptly banned imports of grouper from Taiwan in 2022 in an apparent case of economic coercion — a tactic Beijing has employed against Canada.
Ottawa, Taipei draw ever closer
In 2022, Chris Lewis, a Conservative MP, asked Taipei — home to TSMC, one of the world’s biggest semiconductor companies — to “please send us more chips” as “parking lots full of finished cars” lacked the necessary semiconductors. Since then, Canada and Taiwan have strengthened co-operation on matters ranging from supply chains and semiconductors to foreign investment and health care.
British Columbia, for its part, has identified Taiwan as a key trade partner. In April, the province opened a trade and investment office in Taipei. Last week, a Vancouver Island First Nation, the Malahat Nation, signed an agreement with a Taiwanese energy company as part of plans to construct a C$100-million battery plant in Mill Bay, B.C.
Taipei is diversifying trade and investment away from China, and towards countries like Canada and the U.S. According to Nikkei, China accounted for 30.7 per cent of Taiwan's exports over the first four months of 2024, a nearly two-decade low. Similarly, in 2023, Taiwanese investment in China fell to its lowest level in more than 20 years.
