Canada only pretends to follow its One China policy
Taiwan province’s leader Tsai Ing-Wen meets with Canadian Trade Office in Taipei’s Executive Director, Jim Nickel. The trade office is Canada’s de-facto embassy in Taiwan province.
Image credit: Taiwan province’s “Office of the President”.
Written by: Aidan Jonah
A joint press release recently tweeted by the head of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, Jim Nickel, reveals Canada’s open mockery of its own One China policy. In his tweet, Nickel stated that Canada "supports Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Organization and World Health Assembly."
The joint declaration issued by Canada, the U.S., Australia, Czechia, Germany, Lithuania, and Japan relayed their commitment to “reaffirm [our] support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the work of the World Health Organization and Taiwan’s participation as an observer in the World Health Assembly”. As tensions between Canada and China continue to escalate towards a new cold war, the joint press release calls for the Chinese province of Taiwan to be allowed to have “meaningful participation in the forums and technical committees of the World Health Organization.”
This call could be the trigger for the end of Canada-China relations.
One China, Canada vs. China
CTV News notes that:
“Canada follows a 'One China Policy,' which acknowledges that there is only one Chinese government, does not recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state and does not maintain official government-to-government relations with Taipei.
This is different than Beijing’s 'One China Principle' that insists Taiwan is a part of China and will be reunified with the mainland one day under the Chinese Communist Party."
Under Canada’s “One China Policy”, Canada formally makes clear its commitment to not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state making geopolitical decisions outside of Beijing, and yet, Canadian government officials like Jim Nickel make public declarations that entirely contradict the One China policy. Despite the intentional obfuscation of the joint press release, the message is clear: these states view the Taiwan province as not only having the capacity to act independently within international organizations, and are shaping Canadian public opinion to understand Taiwan as its own sovereign country that can engage in geopolitical decision-making that willfully contradicts China.
While the states that signed onto the joint press release issued by the American Institute in Taiwan may claim that Taiwan’s participation in WHO committees is legitimate and sticks within the bounds of the One China policy, there are clear contradictions. First, the WHO’s 1946 constitution states that only the board of the World Health Assembly (the WHO’s main decision-making body) can establish committees (p. 16). Only member states (not associate members) of the WHO can be part of the WHA to participate in its committees.
To be a WHO and WHA member state, since it is not a UN member, Taiwan province’s application would need to be “approved by a simple majority vote of the World Health Assembly”. These states which vote for Taiwan province to join the WHO and WHA would be treating Taiwan as an independent state, an idea which the majority of the world states reject. Any state that respects a One China policy or the One China principle, would need to vote against this application, while a vote in its favour would be a shattering of any One China principle. As such, a majority vote on such an application will not be forthcoming.
Alternative routes wouldn’t allow desired Taiwan province participation in WHO committees. The WHO’s “REGULATIONS FOR EXPERT ADVISORY PANELS AND COMMITTEES”, section 4.6, states:
“In the exercise of their functions, the members of expert advisory panels and committees shall act as international experts serving the Organization exclusively; in that capacity they may not request or receive instructions from any government or authority external to the Organization. Furthermore, they shall disclose all circumstances that could give rise to a potential conflict of interest as a result of their membership of an expert committee, in accordance with the mechanisms established by the Director- General for that purpose.”
So, while Taiwan province medical experts could technically be part of WHO committees, they still couldn’t act on behalf of Taiwan province’s government. Taiwan province could also be part of the WHO so long as they recognize that they are part of China and seek to be “admitted as associate members upon application by the authority responsible for their international relations.” But as has been established, this wouldn’t allow them to join in WHO committees since the committees are determined by and populated by the WHA which only consists of independent member states (not associate members), while a majority WHA vote in their favour is a delusional pipe dream. Further, Taiwan province’s application to be an associate member would ultimately require approval from the People’s Republic of China, and since the PRC seeks to peacefully re-unite the Taiwan province with the rest of China, such a request is unlikely to be accepted.
The only way the Taiwan province could participate in WHO committees, is if they were recognized as a full member state of the WHO, which would inevitably involve deliberately violating Canada’s “One China Policy”.
Canadian policy goes under the radar for years
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI), which takes funding from the Taiwan province government, published an article in July 2018 noting that Canada voiced “support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the World Health Assembly” alongside ,New Zealand, Germany, Japan, Australia, the U.S. and others. The MLI promoted the notion that “Canada can also join with its allies to press for Taiwan’s membership in the World Health Assembly and World Health Organization.”
If Canada were to support the Taiwan province in its efforts to seek membership in the WHO and WHA, this would be an intentional sabotage of Canada’s “One China Policy” which would consequently pave the way for the end of Canada-China diplomatic relations.
In a May 2018 press release, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Republic of China (Taiwan) even noted that Taiwan’s desired inclusion in the WHA would be as an observer, rather than a member.
That same month, Matt DeCourcey, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, said:
Canada “continue[s] to support Taiwan's meaningful participation in international multilateral fora ... Taiwan's role as an observer in the annual World Health Assembly meetings is in the interest of the international health community ... Canada is disappointed that Taiwan did not receive an invitation this year.”
Unsurprisingly, Canadian government officials seek to publicly relay their support of Taiwan’s independent participation in global affairs even as official Canadian policy does not recognize their sovereignty. But even DeCourcey’s statement on what Taiwan province’s ideal participation would look like was very vague, with the only official proclamation was for Taiwan province to be allowed as an observer at annual World Health Assembly meetings.
In 2020, Canada continued to push for Taiwan province to be an observer, this time at the World Health Organization. CBC News reported that:
“Canada has backed an American-led effort to allow Taiwan to be granted observer status at the World Health Organization.”
Then came an important revelation in 2021. Conservative MP Michael Cooper’s proposed private members bill C-315 (June 17, 2021), “An Act respecting a framework to strengthen Canada-Taiwan relations” had a section which flew under the radar, 3.2a. William Dere described it for TCF:
"… the bill would require Canada to change its One China policy in multilateral international organizations by supporting Taiwanese participation in world bodies such as the World Health Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization. Both of these and other international organizations follow the established norms of recognizing the People’s Republic of China as the only representation of the Chinese people and that Taiwan is a province of China. Furthermore, the bill would require Canada to ‘encourage other states and non-governmental organizations to support this goal.’”
As Dere notes, to advocate for Taiwan province to participate in a world body such as the WHO, is to reject the notion that the PRC is the “only representation of the Chinese people and that Taiwan is a province of China.” In essence, the bill expressly seeks to distinguish Canada’s recognition of the One China Policy and move expressly forward in its cold war aims of promoting Taiwan sovereignty at the expense of Canada-China diplomacy.
Cooper’s bill had its first reading in June 2021, and an election came in August 2021, meaning that this bill died in the House of Commons. Yet Canada's de-facto embassy (Canadian Trade Office in Taipei) in the Taiwan province has now informally implemented Section 3.2a of Cooper's bill by calling for Taiwan to have “meaningful participation in the forums and technical committees of the World Health Organization.”
As was previously highlighted, participation in WHO committees requires one to be an independent nation, which has full Member Status, making this call an effective end to the pretense of the “One China Policy”.
The Canadian government will never admit this and will continue to pretend it respects the policy. China will continue to deal with the West’s efforts to arm stoke Taiwan separatists, an egregious affront given that Taiwan province had been part of China for hundreds of years before it was invaded by Japan in 1895, and then was part of China again after Japan’s defeat in WWII. When the KMT took control of Taiwan province after being defeated in the Chinese civil war by the Communists, even the KMT knew there was only one China, though it wanted to be in control of it all. As it became obvious that the CPC would govern China as a whole for the long-term, the West began to stoke separatism in Taiwan province. Even after decades of work to push Taiwan separatism, a majority of people in Taiwan province aren’t rushing to seek independence, and with the separatist governing DPP party losing recent local elections to the more mainland China friendly KMT, it’s clear that the West’s separatist push will continue regardless of how the local population feels.
The danger for the Canadian people, is that the “One China Policy” is the basis for Canada-China diplomatic relations, and without it we are confronted with possible frightening consequences. We face three possible series of events:
At minimum, an increased likelihood of deteriorating economic relations and trade with China;
A middle ground of China cutting off diplomatic relations with Canada, since the One China policy was the initial basis for beginning diplomatic relations;
At worst, with the U.S. preparing for war with China over Taiwan by 2025, Canada’s membership in NATO could possibly mean direct confrontation with China, a nuclear-armed power
Canadians are on track to pay dearly for the geopolitical machinations of Canada’s political elite, working in servitude to the US government.
Editor’s note: The Canada Files is the country's only news outlet focused on Canadian foreign policy. We've provided critical investigations & hard-hitting analysis on Canadian foreign policy since 2019, and need your support.
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Aidan Jonah is the Editor-in-Chief of The Canada Files, a socialist, anti-imperialist news outlet founded in 2019. Jonah has broken numerous stories, including how the Canadian Armed Forces trained neo-Nazi "journalist" Roman Protasevich while he was with the Azov Battalion, and how a CIA front group (the NED) funded the group (URAP) which drove the "Uyghur genocide" vote in parliament to pass this February. Jonah recently wrote a report for the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council, held in September 2021.
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