Three days after reports that the Liberals threatened to pull funding for the Halifax Security Forum if it gave an award to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen, Canada’s House of Commons unanimously passed a motion saying she would be the ideal candidate for the award.
The story was first reported by Politico on Sunday. The motion, brought forward by Conservative MP Michael Chong, called on the government to support the Halifax International Security Forum if it awards a prominent prize to Taiwan’s president, which could risk China’s ire.
The John McCain Prize for Leadership in Public Service is an annual award doled out by the forum to any country that has demonstrated what they perceive as “uncommon leadership in the pursuit of human justice.”
Tsai was nominated for the award for her efforts to maintain Taiwan’s independence from the Chinese government.
The federal government is a major sponsor of the award. According to Politico, when the Liberals learned of the HFX’s plan to present Tsai with the award last year, they threatened to pull their funding and support.
On Wednesday, Chong accused the federal government of playing into China’s hands.
“The government’s attempt to silence those critical of China is shameful and it plays right into China’s desire to silence its critics abroad,” he said.
For now, the Liberal government has neither confirmed or denied Politico’s reporting.
When asked whether the federal government would continue to support the HFX on Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: “I have always supported Taiwan’s meaningful participation in multilateral international forums in Canada and Canada continues to have strong and growing trade and people-to-people relations with Taiwan.”
On Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau also dodged questions about the report, instead pivoting to Canada’s human rights record.
“We will always be there to defend human rights. We have been there in the case of China, and very recently we have imposed sanctions on the individuals that were identified with respect to the treatment of leaders in Xinjiang,” he said.
“We have always spoken up very clearly, whether it is in China or in other countries, to defend the rights, the human rights of of of people living in those countries because it is part of our fundamental values.”
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said Monday that it is up to the Halifax International Security Forum to decide who the award goes to, but also sidestepped questions about whether the government had threatened to cut off the security forum’s funding if it went to Tsai.
“We have supported this forum since the time that we came into government,” he said. “And as I stated, it is not our decision to award this. It is the decision by the forum itself in the organization to make that decision on their own.”
— With files from the Canadian Press