China’s embassy in Ottawa is criticizing a trip to Taiwan by Canadian MP Michael Chong, who said his visit is partly to “assert Canadian sovereignty” after China’s ambassador warned against future visits by parliamentarians.
“Canada is a sovereign and independent country,” Chong said in a statement Sunday, the day he arrived in Taipei. “We do not take direction from a foreign government about where Canadian MPs can travel internationally, and where Canadian Navy warships can transit in international waters.”
Chong was referencing a warning made by China’s ambassador to Canada, Wang Di, during an interview with The Globe and Mail last month.
Wang warned the strategic partnership announced after Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit with Chinese President Xi Jinping would be damaged if Canada sends any more warships through the Taiwan Strait or if any more MPs visit Taiwan.
He also did not appear to distinguish between parties, saying no MPs should be allowed to visit. Chong is the Conservative Foreign Affairs critic.
The Chinese embassy said such a visit sends “a wrong message of support for ‘Taiwan independence.'”
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“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 embassy wrote in a statement to Global News.
China claims sovereignty over democratically governed Taiwan and says it has jurisdiction over the nearly 180-kilometre-wide waterway dividing the two sides.
Canada, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but the two maintain de facto embassies in each other’s capitals.
Carney announced a preliminary deal with China in January on electric vehicles and canola, the partnership Wang appeared to be referencing in his remarks.
Michael Kovrig, a senior advisor with the International Crisis Group, told Global News that China, by issuing the warning, is trying to “assert” itself and “trying to move the red lines.”
“The ambassador is trying to say that you can’t keep doing what you’ve been doing before and if you do, we will be angry with you,” he said. But Kovrig added Chong is also asserting his own stance.
“Michael Chong is also asserting that no, he does not represent the government of Canada, and he has full authority to go and visit Taiwan and meet with whoever he pleases and it’s not up to the Chinese government,” Kovrig said.
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Chong, who serves as the Conservatives’ foreign affairs critic, plans to visit with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te while he’s there.
Taiwan remains a contentious issue between China and multiple countries, including Canada, the United States and many parts of Europe.
The issue arose this past week when President Donald Trump visited China and met with Xi, which saw the Chinese leader warn Trump that the two countries could clash over the self-governed island if it’s not handled properly.
Trump’s administration has approved an $11 billion arms package for Taiwan, but has yet to begin fulfilling it.
The U.S. has a longstanding commitment to help the island defend itself if attacked, but Trump has shown greater ambivalence toward Taiwan, fueling speculation about whether the president could be persuaded to dial back American support.
Lai said on Sunday that the arms purchases from the U.S. are “the most important deterrent.”
“We thank President Trump for his continued support for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait since his first term, including the continuous increase in the scale and amount of arms sales to Taiwan,” he said.
The self-governed island and the one-China “principle” is considered to be the “political foundation of and an inviolable red line” for relations between Canada and China, the embassy said in its statement.
Chong stressed in his statement the need to opposed the warning.
“To remain silent and comply in the face of intimidation is to accommodate this behaviour, further embolden authoritarianism, and further weaken democracy,” said Chong. “It is not simply sufficient to proclaim sovereignty; sovereignty must be exercised.”
—with files from Global News’ Nathaniel Dove, The Associated Press and Reuters
When a conservative criticizes the dysfunction of the liberals…why do they never point out the blatantly obvious… banjo picking lives …of themselves. You guys are far from role model status. Just tie up your velcro shoes and try to make it to the end of the day…
What the hell is with these fascist azzholes who think they can wave their d*cks anywhere they want? F*CK THE LIBERAL SWINE!!
Liberals think they are superior to everyone but they never fail to realize that their party has destroyed Canada. Our culture and economy have been decimated. We sacrificed everything for their emotions and now we all have to suffer
Liberals need to fix Canada rather than blowing billions to send warships to China and a century political interference in China. Why doesn’t Canada send warships to Russia to show off?
@ anonymous…good one! CONservative. That is the most simplest and accurate way of describing ALL of them!!! In life there’s always something in the name…
Glad he went. Hope he stays there.
Omg how embarrassing for Carney and Poilievre!!! Get rid of this Chong!
Total amateur hour by Carney
Carney wants to muzzle Chong as Carney admires basic dictatorships like China and North Korea.
CONservatives are not in charge, they must be held to account and they need to be kept out of the complicated work being done by the adults! Put them on a leash if necessary.
I guess the liberals are going to have to submit and obey their totalitarian communist overlords vs democratic Taiwan’s freedom based system. China #1, Taiwan=bad
Liberals will be in full damage control to keep their CCP overlords happy.
One rotten apple spoils the bunch…
Hoow, spoken like a true commie.
And we care what Communist China says because…?
It only takes one conservative to screw up everything.
Hoow is 100 percent correct!! Good one hoow. Ford, Polievre, Jivani, Ching Chong ….all making it worse. Sticking their nose in where it doesn’t belong…all because they’re outside the fence looking in!
Ching Chong would be better? ALL you conservatives talk about is foreign interference.! You guys realize it’s the sole duty of the Chinese to be loyal to China. Canadian citizen or not…very few cross over and remain truly canadian.
Carney has a lot of personal money in China. If China barks, Carney trembles.
Chong would be a great PM. Unlike Canrey and Trudeau before him.
Carney believes China is an ally while he demonizes Trump and MAGA and treats the USA as an enemy all because Elbows Up Carney can’t secure a trade deal that he promised Canadians back in April 2025.
Imagine being a proud Canadian, chanting “Elbows Up” for weeks on end, and then wanting our elected officials to take orders from Beijing. Too many Canadians have had their mind’s broken.
@hoow. Sober up and get off the sauce. You sound like a total dodo.
Tony Fuda the russkie troll is back. lol…Putin is finished. Troll should volunteer in Ukraine.
Troll Sheila couldn’t even spell her phony name right.
Chong is wasting money.
This is a bad guy. He wants to dig a hole for Carney’s Liberal Party and stir up conflicts with China. At present, the trilateral agreement among the United States, Canada and Mexico is about to be re-signed. Judging from the current situation, there won’t be a very good outcome. Therefore, he wants the Liberal Party to lose its US-China relationship at the same time and be in a passive position, so as to take advantage of the situation and have the Conservative Party rise to power.However, the visit to Taiwan has seriously dampened the enthusiasm of the Chinese community to vote and has completely fixed them on the pillar of disgrace as a villain.His virtue is too bad for him to rise to power.It is even more impossible for the Conservative Party to come to power.The current Conservative Party is like a stupid pig leading a group of stupid pigs.
Liberal Larry. You are dellusional.
Liberal Larry so who is the real bully to tell us where we can and cannot go. Cut all ties with China.
I agree China has NO business telling us where we can and. Cannot go.
Where does Pee Pee and his buddies get off trying to ruin our great relationship with China ? They should be our new number one trading partner. We don’t need the U.S. and it’s big bully Trump for anything, we can just trade with China.Their stuff is cheaper, better made and they aren’t trying to invade or control us like the orange fascist .If our honest ,hard working Former P.M. Justin Trudeau admired China ,then we should admire them too.I can hardly wait to buy my first Chinese EV. Much better than giving my money to Elon Notzee.
Two words for China, dealing with sex and travel. Carney is 100 times smarter than America’s Dotard and we won’t be intimidated by bullies.
China’s attempt to intimidate Canadians is reprehensible and based on a false premise. Never in modern times was Taiwan ever a part of China. That bully country is playing Trump’s annexation game … perhaps that’s where Trump got the idea of the 51st state, or annexing Venezuela or Cuba.
Trudeau admitted he admires basic dictatorships. Just like Carney and other Liberals.
Surprise, surprise… China condemns it. Wonder what they will do punish Canada for allowing people democratic rights.
Be wary Carney of who you get into bed with. If you let China own us financially they will own us politically. Look at how many countries in Africa now will recognize Taiwan.
Trudeau go China good. Freeland go Ukraine good. Carney go China good. Chong go China bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.
There are true and smart polititians , and there are idiots….Guess which one is Chong ….
Canada believes in the same one-China policy as the United States; Taiwan and the mainland are both part of the historic nation of China, but they are two distinct sovereign states. Since Taiwan is a democracy, and the PRC is not, Taiwan may retake the mainland any time it pleases, but the use of force by the mainland against Taiwan would be an act of aggression.
Why do we care what the ccp thinks?
CPC promotes Taiwan which is a Democracy and Trudeau/Carney support China which is an authoritarian dictatorship.
Chong should be the New Conservative leader, he has everything, except the backing from the western reform party. The Conservatives need to shed the western separatist reform party people and return to Progressive Conservative values with less American Republican influence
Another genius move conservatives. Genius move. Smith and her B.S. trying to sell us out…Jivani…Ford and now this guy. You guys really are mentally challenged.!
Did Trump not go to see Xi in China?
Xi did not go to see Trump in the US
Hey Andre, who cares what you “guess?”
Nobody.
Taiwan has always been part of China.
Carney and Trudeau admire basic dictatorships like North Korea and China
How to undermine the Canadian Government. Why is democracy the best method of governance?
Mr. Chong is advocating for China to exercise it’s sovereignty. Another war monger. – vote him out.
I guess Carny will just have to prorogue parliament until the Conservatives come to their senses and obey China, like the LPC does.