Chinese Embassy Criticizes Canadian Lawmaker's Taiwan Visit

The Chinese Embassy to Ottawa criticized plans by a Canadian lawmaker to visit Taiwan as a grave breach of the one-China principle.

"A certain Canadian MP's visit to the Taiwan region and his meetings with officials of the Taiwan region authorities gravely contravene the one-China commitment Canada upholds and send a wrong message of support for 'Taiwan independence'. China firmly opposes this," the Chinese embassy told TASS on Sunday, responding to a request for comment ahead of a planned visit by Michael Chong to Taiwan on May 18-21 for talks with Taiwanese administration head Lai Ching-te and other officials.

"The Taiwan question is the core of China's core interests, which brooks no external interference. The one-China principle is not only the political foundation of and an inviolable red line for China-Canada relations but also a basic norm governing international relations and a universal consensus in the international community," the Chinese diplomatic mission emphasized.

According to it, "China resolutely opposes countries having diplomatic relations with it engaging in any form of official exchanges with the Taiwan region." "We urge Canada to earnestly abide by its one-China commitment, effectively restrain any words or deeds that violate the one-China principle, and refrain from interfering in China’s internal affairs," the embassy concluded.

In 2021, Beijing imposed sanctions on Chong after the Canadian Parliament recognized what it called human rights abuses against the Uyghur minority in China as a genocide.

Taiwan has been governed by its own administration since 1949, when the remnants of the Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled there after their defeat in the Chinese Civil War. Beijing considers Taiwan a province of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a position supported by the majority of countries, including Russia.