Taiwanfest stage at Vancouver Art Gallery

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

and the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northea ...

(also known as Taiwan) have maintained unofficial bilateral relations since 1970. Relations between Canada and the ROC were established in 1942. Since Canada's recognition of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, sli ...

as the sole representative of "China" in 1970, there are no ambassadorial relations between Canada and Taiwan due to the

Chinese government The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, mi ...

One-China policy The term One China may refer to one of the following: * The One China principle is the position held by the People's Republic of China (PRC) that there is only one sovereign state under the name China, with the PRC serving as the sole legit ...

, but there are strong ties of trade and culture between the two entities since at least 1986. Officially, Canada "takes note" of China's claim to Taiwan without endorsing or challenging this position.

History

Prior to the Communist takeover

In 1942, Canada posted its first ambassador for the

(the successor state to the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

) in the wartime capital of

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Cou ...

. The embassy was then moved to the permanent capital of

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and t ...

in 1946. However, with the

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

victory over the

Nationalists Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

, which caused them to retreat to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

, formerly a Qing prefecture that was under Japanese dominion for 50 years, while the Communists established the

, the Canadian embassy in Nanjing was kept open until February 26, 1951. While Canada maintained its diplomatic relations with Nationalist China on Taiwan, Japan officially relinquished the claims to Taiwan and Penghu upon the signing of the

Treaty of San Francisco The , also called the , re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers on behalf of the United Nations by ending the legal state of war and providing for redress for hostile actions up to and including World War II. It w ...

on April 28, 1952.

Policy

On 13 October 1970, Canada recognized

(PRC) and suspended diplomatic relations with the

(ROC) in Taiwan. In the

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 (also known as the Resolution on Admitting Peking) was passed in response to the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1668 that required any change in China's representation in the UN ...

Canada supported the

(PRC) as the successor state of the

. After diplomatic relations between

and the ROC were suspended, both diplomatic missions were replaced by representative offices. Presently, the

Government of the Republic of China The Government of the Republic of China, is the national government of the Republic of China whose ''de facto'' territory currently consists of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other island groups in the "free area". Governed by the De ...

maintains the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada () in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, and two other offices in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

Taiwan External Trade Development Council The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA; ) is a non-profit government co-sponsored trade promotion organization in Taiwan. It was founded in 1970 as China External Trade Development Council (CETRA). However, it changed its English ...

also has offices in

and

. The

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-i ...

established the

Canadian Trade Office in Taipei The Canadian Trade Office in Taipei (CTOT; french: Bureau commercial du Canada à Taipei; ) is Canada's trade office in Taiwan, which functions as a ''de facto'' embassy in the absence of official diplomatic relations in which Canada recognize ...

(CTOT) in 1986 during the days of

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political ...

. During the mandate of

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

the CTOT expanded and moved to the Xinyi District of

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

. In October 2019,

visited Taipei as a private citizen to attend the Yushan Forum, promote his book, ''Right Here, Right Now'', and give a speech that was described as a "thinly-veiled criticism of China's economic model" by the Globe and Mail.

Victor Gao Gao Zhikai (; born 1962) is a Chinese lawyer, academic and media spokesman for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He is the Vice President of the Beijing based Center for China and Globalization (CCG), and Chair Professor of Soochow University. ...

, vice president of the Chinese-government-aligned

Center for China and Globalization The Center for China and Globalization (CCG) is a Chinese think tank based in Beijing. It was founded in 2008 by a committee of the Western Returned Scholars Association, an organization under the United Front Work Department. CCG is a member o ...

, disapproved of Harper's visit.

Economic

In 2019, Taiwan was reportedly the fifth-largest trading partner in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

of Canada. The main exports from Canada to Taiwan are

metal ore Ore concentrate, dressed ore or simply concentrate is the product generally produced by metal ore mines. The raw ore is usually ground finely in various comminution operations and gangue (waste) is removed, thus concentrating the metal compone ...

mineral oil Mineral oil is any of various colorless, odorless, light mixtures of higher alkanes from a mineral source, particularly a distillate of petroleum, as distinct from usually edible vegetable oils. The name 'mineral oil' by itself is imprecise, ...

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of ligni ...

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as stratum, rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen ...

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...

, meat and

railway vehicle The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...

s. Canada is the 24th largest trade partner of Taiwan, which exported to Canada over $1.5bn worth of goods and services in 2017–18, ranking it 19th on the Canadian list. The main exports from Taiwan to Canada were

mobile devices A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...

, recording equipment,

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centr ...

s, steel products, and

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

products. In 2018, the

balance of trade The balance of trade, commercial balance, or net exports (sometimes symbolized as NX), is the difference between the monetary value of a nation's exports and imports over a certain time period. Sometimes a distinction is made between a balance ...

between Taiwan and Canada in 2018 was 47.9 billion Canadian dollars in favour of the Taiwanese. As the Canadian difficulties with China mounted in 2019, academics like

Hugh Stephens Hugh may refer to: * Hugh (given name) Noblemen and clergy French * Hugh the Great (died 956), Duke of the Franks * Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France under his father, Robert II * Hugh, Duke of Alsace (died 895), modern- ...

suggested that the Taiwanese relationship be fostered and promoted, which he saw as being consistent with Canada's democratic values. He would encourage the accession of Taiwan to the CPTPP, and noted that Taiwanese membership with the

WTO The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...

allowed

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

to sign an

FTA FTA may refer to: Arts and media * ''The Faery Tale Adventure'', a computer game * Festival TransAmériques, an annual dance and theater festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada * Free The Army tour, the F.T.A. Tour or F.T.A. Show, an American anti-V ...

with Taiwan in 2013. In October 2019 it was remarked that the number of foreign diplomatic ties of Taiwan had dwindled to 15 countries, Canada not among them.

Taiwanfest

Taiwanfest began in 1990 in Vancouver by musical/cultural magnate Cecilia Chueh as a music festival but expanded to include various cultural events. From 2006 onwards, it is also expanded and celebrated in Toronto.

References

External links

Canada and Taiwan - international.gc.ca
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canada-Taiwan relations

Bilateral relations of Taiwan