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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 107

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 4, 2022 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 107 - Oct/4/22
Mr. Irek Kusmierczyk (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Lib.)
  • Oct/4/22 7:25:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague has done an admirable job of outlining and explaining the importance of multilateral forums and institutions in dealing with global health threats. Is there anything about Canada's leadership on these forums that really stands out to my hon. colleague as she has looked at Canada's role for example in co-operating with Taiwan and Canada's role on the WHO itself?
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Context: House Hansard - 107 - Oct/4/22
Mr. Ryan Turnbull (Whitby, Lib.)
  • Oct/4/22 7:27:35 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to speak about Taiwan's meaningful participation in international organizations. My views on this matter are straightforward. Taiwan should participate meaningfully in international organizations whenever there is a practical imperative to do so and whenever its absence is detrimental to global interests. Consider, for instance, the question of Taiwan's ongoing exclusion from the World Health Assembly, the WHA. The exclusion of Taiwan from the WHA has been detrimental to the global efforts to track and combat COVID–19. The responses to the pandemic, future pandemics and global public health concerns in general provide a practical imperative, I think we can all agree, for Taiwan's inclusion as an observer. This position aligns fully with Canada's one China policy. Under this policy, Canada recognizes the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of China, while taking note of neither challenging nor endorsing the Government of China's position on Taiwan. Canada maintains diplomatic relations with the PRC, while continuing to develop and maintain unofficial economic people-to-people and cultural ties with Taiwan. The connections between Canada and Taiwan are very deep and strong. Our two societies share a commitment to democratic values, a respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law. Our people-to-people ties are also very strong. The approximately 50,000 Canadians who live in Taiwan today comprise the fourth-largest Canadian diaspora community in the world. Daily direct flights between Vancouver and Taipei have helped to deepen these people-to-people ties. When the COVID–19 pandemic struck, Taiwan was among the first to donate masks to Canada. The economic relationship between Canada and Taiwan is also thriving. Canada's two-way merchandise trade with Taiwan totalled $10.2 billion in 2021, up 38.1% from $7.4 billion in the year 2020. In 2021, Taiwan was Canada's 11th-largest merchandise trading partner and fifth-largest trading partner in Asia. Taiwan is a critical link in global supply chains, particularly for chip manufacturing and international shipping. To strengthen trade, Canada and Taiwan co-operate through select multilateral organizations, including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the WTO. To advance economic people-to-people and cultural co-operation, senior representatives from both sides participate in the annual Canada-Taiwan economic consultations. During the most-recent meeting, held virtually in December, our representatives discussed a broad range of topics related to trade and investments, such as the green economy, supply chain security, intellectual property, access to agricultural markets and greater collaboration on science, technology and innovation. Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan recently negotiated the Indigenous Peoples Economic and Trade Cooperation Arrangement. The arrangement establishes a framework to identify and remove barriers that hinder the economic empowerment of indigenous peoples. Earlier this year, Canada and Taiwan announced their intention to hold an exploratory discussion toward a possible foreign investment promotion and protection arrangement, FIPA, to use the acronym. A FIPA aims to protect and promote foreign investment by negotiating a common framework that provides a stable, rules-based investment environment for Canadian businesses investing abroad and for foreign businesses investing in Canada. Canada is keen to pursue trade in innovation and investment relations with Taiwan, consistent with our long-standing policy. When it comes to Taiwan's meaningful participation in global discussions, perhaps the best way to summarize my position on this is to rework an old maxim. It is good for Taiwan, good for Canada and good for the rest of the world. Taiwan's rise during the preceding decades is widely recognized as a democratic and economic success story. Many refer to it as the “Taiwan miracle”. Starting about 40 years ago, the island transitioned from a one-party authoritarian system to a multi-party democracy. Today, Taiwan's export-oriented industrial economy ranks 21st in the world by nominal GDP and 15th by GDP per capita. The island also ranks highly in measures of political and civil liberties, education, health care and human development. Over the past two decades, Taiwan was able to participate in select UN specialized agencies as an observer or as a guest. More recently, however, Taiwan has been actively excluded from key international agencies and events. This exclusion has negative impacts, not only on the 24 million people of Taiwan, but also on the global community. For instance, Taiwan continues to be excluded from the World Health Assembly, even though the island has much to contribute to global pandemic efforts. Indeed, the international community faces an unprecedented number of complex issues, from climate change to public health to environmental degradation and more. Collaboration among all partners offers our best hope for resolving these issues. Where a technical imperative exists, we must enable meaningful contributions from all stakeholders. It is on this basis that Canada supports Taiwan's meaningful participation in relevant global discussions. There are a lot of lessons we can learn from the pandemic. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, international collaboration has been front and centre. The most effective way, in fact the only way to end the pandemic is to engage as many stakeholders as possible in order to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus. International organizations such as the World Health Organization facilitate these efforts. Throughout the pandemic, the WHO has served as a trusted conduit of authoritative information about everything from infection rates and transmission patterns to the effectiveness of vaccines and vaccination campaigns. Although each jurisdiction is and must be responsible for the health of its population, the WHO enables a coherent global response to the pandemic. Now more than ever, the world needs a transparent, inclusive and accountable World Health Organization. Canada continues to work alongside other international partners to realize this goal. An illustration of Canada's support for the WHO is the government's investment of $865 million in the access to COVID-19 tools accelerator. The accelerator is a global collaboration that aims to speed up the development, production and equitable availability of effective diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. Part of the accelerator is the health systems and response connector, the HSRC for short, which is a partnership of diverse organizations. It is co-led by the WHO, UNICEF, the Global Fund and the World Bank, with support from the Global Financing Facility. HSRC coordinates the efforts of individual countries in three working streams: financing, planning and tracking; technical and operational support; and health system and workforce protection. This coordination helps countries to identify and address health system bottlenecks and ensures that COVID-19 tools are deployed most effectively. Taiwan is a progressive democracy. As a society, it has championed the protection of individual rights and freedoms, including those of women, the LGBTQ2+ community and indigenous people. The island has much to contribute on the world stage. At the same time, Taiwan's strengths in semiconductors, biotechnology and information technology have supported its dynamic, export-driven economy and contributed to global growth. Taiwan will continue to be the forefront of semiconductor innovation well into the future, and will continue to play a central role in global technology supply chains. Taiwan's better integration into the global economy supports global growth and development. There is a strength in an inclusive architecture that is supportive of the participation of all stakeholders, which is why Canada will continue to pursue Taiwan's meaningful participation where its presence provides important contributions to the public good.
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