{"id":639830,"date":"2026-05-01T01:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T01:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/639830\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T01:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T01:50:08","slug":"chinese-envoy-warns-canada-against-sending-mps-to-taiwan-or-warships-through-taiwan-strait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/639830\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese envoy warns Canada against sending MPs to Taiwan or warships through Taiwan Strait"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Chinese Ambassador to Canada Wang Di says there’s ‘only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China\u2019s territory.’Adrian Wyld\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The new \u201cstrategic partnership\u201d that Prime Minister Mark Carney struck with China this year<\/a> would be damaged if Ottawa sends more military vessels through the Taiwan Strait or if Canadian parliamentarians keep meeting with officials in Taiwan, Beijing\u2019s envoy says.<\/p>\n

In an interview Thursday, Wang Di, China\u2019s<\/a> ambassador, said he\u2019s optimistic about warming ties between Beijing and Ottawa but laid down expectations for how Canada deals with the self-governed island of Taiwan going forward. <\/p>\n

Canadian MPs and senators visit Taiwan<\/a> regularly on trips paid for by the Taiwanese government \u2013 and have done so for decades. The trips have normally included meetings with Taiwan\u2019s Foreign Minister or its President or Vice-President. <\/p>\n

Opinion: Why Canada must go global \u2013 to China and beyond<\/a><\/p>\n

Under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, Canadian warships transited the Taiwan Strait 11 times \u2013 over the objections of Beijing \u2013 starting in 2018. Under Mr. Carney\u2019s government, a Canadian frigate has made one trip, in September, 2025, along with an Australian destroyer.<\/p>\n

The People\u2019s Republic of China considers Taiwan, which lies 160 kilometres off its coastline, to be a breakaway province and the strait between the two an internal waterway. Taiwan, where many from the losing side of China\u2019s civil war fled in 1949, calls itself the Republic of China.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China\u2019s territory,\u201d Mr. Wang said Thursday in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Taiwan question is a red line that should never be crossed and is at the core interests of China. It constitutes an important political foundation for the bilateral relationship between our two countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January, two Canadian MPs from the governing Liberal caucus cut short a trip to Taiwan just before the parliamentary delegation they were with was due to meet Taiwanese President Lai Ching-Te and other officials. This happened shortly before Mr. Carney\u2019s meeting in Beijing.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Taiwan President Lai Ching-Te in Taipei in March.Chen Shin-han\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

\u201cCanadian parliamentarians \u2013 they have official status. So of course, if these parliamentarians conduct any official engagement with the Taiwan side that will be hurtful,\u201d Mr. Wang said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny official engagement between China and Canada should only happen between the People\u2019s Republic of China and Canada,\u201d the envoy said. <\/p>\n

Canadian warships often traverse the Taiwan Strait with other Western countries and in particular the United States, effectively challenging Beijing\u2019s claims to what the West regards as an international waterway. The U.S. calls its transits \u201cfreedom of navigation\u201d operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cSending warships through the Taiwan Strait and doing harassment and even provocation, of course, that is in violation of the One China principle, and that also violates China\u2019s territorial integrity,\u201d the envoy said, referring to Beijing\u2019s policy on Taiwan.<\/p>\n

Andrew Coyne: No, Canada is not selling out to Beijing<\/a><\/p>\n

Canada ended formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1970 and instead, under then-prime-minister Pierre Trudeau, recognized the Communist-led People\u2019s Republic of China. Since then, Canada\u2019s One China policy recognizes the PRC as the sole legitimate government of China but at the same time neither challenges nor endorses the PRC position that Taiwan is China\u2019s territory.<\/p>\n

January, 2026, was a breakthrough in the long-troubled Canada-China relationship when Mr. Carney reached a truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping<\/a> in a painful trade war. The Prime Minister is seeking bigger overseas export markets and new foreign investment to offset economic damage caused by U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s protectionist tariffs.<\/p>\n

During his January meeting with Mr. Xi in Beijing, Mr. Carney agreed to allow nearly 50,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles into Canada at a low tariff rate in return for big reductions in Beijing\u2019s levies on canola seed and a promised elimination of its tariffs on a host of other products. <\/p>\n

How Canada will prepare for Chinese EVs, according to our reporters<\/a><\/p>\n

More high-level visits are planned this year. <\/p>\n

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to visit Canada soon \u2013 possibly as early as the end of May, two Canadian sources say. But an official date has yet to be set. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the sources because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The Chinese embassy declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Last month, Ottawa publicly rejected a reported proposal involving China\u2019s Leapmotor to reassemble electric vehicles<\/a>, manufactured in China with Chinese components, in Brampton, Ont. The federal government said it wanted to see cars made in Canada with Canadian components.<\/p>\n

Mr. Wang had little comment on the matter, saying China supports \u201cmutually beneficial co-operation\u201d which is \u201cin accordance with the market principles,\u201d but adding that it\u2019s up to Canadian and Chinese businesses to work this out.<\/p>\n

Mr. Carney has set out \u201cguardrails\u201d for areas of Canada\u2019s economy that are off limits to Chinese investment, such as artificial intelligence, critical minerals and defence. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney shakes hands with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing in January.Sean Kilpatrick\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Asked whether China was satisfied with these restrictions, Mr. Wang said the January agreement listed a number of areas such as agricultural products and energy where investment is invited. \u201cI think if we can do well co-operating in the areas specified in the roadmap, then that will lay a very good foundation for co-operation in more areas in the next phase.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cars made by Tesla are expected to get the lion\u2019s share of the EV quota this year \u2013 Tesla makes vehicles in China \u2013 but Mr. Wang said Beijing hopes that in future years autos made by Chinese companies will make up the bulk of the quota. \u201cI feel that the Canadian side is also really earnest and serious about this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diplomatic relations between Canada and China entered a deep freeze in late 2018 when Beijing locked up two Canadians in retaliation for Ottawa arresting a Huawei executive on a U.S. extradition order. Things worsened as Canada joined other Western countries in criticizing China\u2019s treatment of its Uyghur minority in Xinjiang and a crackdown in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

Carney avoids describing China\u2019s treatment of Uyghurs as genocide<\/a><\/p>\n

One legacy of that period is Canadian MP Michael Chong and the House of Commons subcommittee on human rights remain under sanction by the Chinese government. <\/p>\n

These measures persist even though China has lifted sanctions on MPs in the British Parliament, members of the European parliament as well as a subcommittee of the European parliament.<\/p>\n

The Chinese measures targeting Mr. Chong and the Commons subcommittee were applied after Canada joined with the U.S., Britain and the European Union in imposing human-rights-related sanctions against officials in Xinjiang.<\/p>\n

Mr. Wang said Canada needs to lift these sanctions before Beijing will consider removing its measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe say \u2018the knot has to be untied by the one who tied it.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Chinese Ambassador to Canada Wang Di says there’s ‘only one China in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,714],"class_list":["post-639830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}