(OTTAWA) MPs from all parties in the Commons are on an official visit to Taiwan this week in support of the island which still faces the threat of an invasion from China.
The parliamentary delegation is led by the Chairman of the Commons Standing Committee on National Defence, Liberal MP John McKay. He is accompanied by Conservative, Bloc and New Democrat MPs.
McKay said Taiwan leaders are very grateful to host the visit, which comes as China conducted military exercises around the island it claims earlier this week.
The Liberal MP also does not believe that the visit will harm relations with China – although the embassy in Ottawa indicated last fall that another planned visit by Canadian parliamentarians to the island would have “consequences “.
Mr. McKay argues that relations between Canada and China are already at a low point and that it is also important that Canadians show their support for Taiwan in the face of what he describes as bullying from Beijing.
The visit comes just after three days of China’s large-scale military exercises in the region, in retaliation for a meeting between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy last week in California.
