OTTAWA-
China has warned it will take ‘strong action’ if Canada intervenes in Taiwan, a week after it emerged that a delegation of Canadian parliamentarians was planning to visit the island later this year to explore the business opportunities.
China claims Taiwan as its territory under its “one China principle” and opposes foreign politicians visiting the island. Taiwan, governed democratically, rejects China’s claims.
“We urge the Canadian side to uphold the one-China principle and respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Chinese Embassy in Canada said in a statement sent Tuesday evening.
“China will take resolute and vigorous action against any country that tries to interfere with or infringe on China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Chinese Embassy said.
Members of a Canada-Taiwan parliamentary “friendship group”, which receives no administrative or financial support from the Canadian parliament, had planned to visit the self-governing island in October, Liberal MP Judy Sgro said last week.
Sgro said the trip would focus on trade and the lawmakers’ intention was not to disrupt and cause problems for Taiwan or China.
In a statement, the Canadian government said the parliamentary associations and friendship groups were independent and that it respected the lawmakers’ intention to visit Taiwan.
Canada, like the rest of the West, follows a one-China policy that recognizes Beijing, not Taipei, diplomatically, while unofficially supporting Taiwan.
Relations between China and the West have soured since US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan earlier this month against Beijing’s wishes.
(Reporting by Steve Scherer and Ismail Shakil in OttawaEditing by Tomasz Janowski)