Bloc Leader Criticizes Ottawa’s Military Talks With China, Says Canada Should Back Taiwan

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet says the Liberal government is wrong to have restarted military talks with China and should show the same support for Taiwan’s sovereignty as it does for Ukraine.

Blanchet made the comments days after meeting with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te in Taipei on Sept. 8, on a trip where he and a number of Bloc MPs talked with Taiwanese officials about military, political, and economic matters.

“One cannot imagine Canada establishing military collaborations with Russia, recalling deputies on a visit to Ukraine to court Russia, or delaying an economic agreement that it had itself negotiated with Ukraine so as not to irritate Russia,” Blanchet posted Sept. 11 on social media.

“Ukraine is a bulwark of the free world against the brutal Russian dictatorship … Taiwan is also a bulwark against a dictatorship, that of mainland and communist China. I fail to understand this difference in treatment,” the Bloc leader added.

Taiwan and Ukraine

Blanchet’s reference to “recalling deputies” and “delaying an economic agreement” in order not to irritate China appear to refer to two recent actions of the Liberal government relating to Taiwan.

This past January, Liberal MPs Helena Jaczek and Marie-France Lalonde ended a parliamentary visit to Taiwan early on advice from Ottawa just prior to a planned trip by Carney to Beijing, where he announced intention for a “strategic partnership” with China that “sets us up well for a new world order” and signed multiple memoranda of understanding with the communist regime including on closer law enforcement cooperation.

The MPs said cutting the trip short was done in order to ensure there wouldn’t be confusion over Canadian policy during Carney’s visit.

Canada’s official position on Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory, is that it neither endorses nor disputes Beijing’s claim over the island. Ottawa has unofficial relations with Taiwan and opposes unilateral Chinese efforts to alter the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.

In terms of the delayed agreement referred to by Blanchet, Taiwan’s envoy to Canada Harry Tseng remarked earlier this year that he believed Ottawa was delaying the signing of a finished trade deal with Taiwan due to pursuing closer cooperation with Beijing.

Ukraine, by contrast, has received consistent financial and military support from Canada since being invaded by Russia in 2022.

This includes a recently signed 100-year partnership focused on Canadian–Ukrainian joint development and production of drones and military technology, along with a sizeable military aid package of $350 million to help Ukraine buy air-defence interceptors, that was announced by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sept. 10 in Calgary.

Blanchet said Ottawa should match this support for Ukraine in likewise supporting Taiwan.

“Why does Canada do this with China, against the economy and security also threatened in Taiwan, at the risk of compromising its honor and its word?” he wrote. “All this can be quickly corrected with the determination that we deploy for Ukraine.”

Canada–China Military Talks

Blanchet’s remarks come following reports that Canadian and defence officials restarted military talks Sept. 4, the first military talks since 2018. During the meeting in Canada, both nations “expressed willingness to strengthen practical exchanges and cooperation between the two militaries, and enhanced mutual understanding and trust,” according to Beijing.

The Canadian Armed Forces confirmed that the meeting took place to The Epoch Times but said it was a “working-level dialogue” and did not pertain to “deeper cooperation” on defence.

“As part of ongoing working-level dialogue, Canadian and Chinese defence officials met on September 4, in support of ongoing military-to-military communications at the functional level,” CAF told The Epoch Times Sept. 7.

“As the Prime Minister has consistently said, Canada’s renewed engagement with China will be guided by a series of guardrails. Under this framework, there are specific areas in which we will seek deeper cooperation with China and areas where we will not, which includes on defence.”

In addition to Blanchet’s criticism, the Conservatives have also spoken out against the Canada–China military talks.

“We will not stand up for our sovereignty or our values by working with a government that has kidnapped our people, interfered with our elections, dropped surveillance buoys in our Arctic waters, and set up secret police stations on Canadian soil,” Tory defence critic James Bezan and foreign affairs critic Eric Duncan wrote in a Sept. 9 letter to Carney.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has also stated his opposition to such cooperation.

“No ‘new world order’. No military cooperation with a regime that kidnapped our people, interfered in our elections, and set up police stations on our soil,” Poilievre wrote Sept. 8 on social media.