Canada-China Relations committee  Our students are from Hong Kong and Taiwan. We have Uighur students. We have Tibetan students. They report that there is interference and there are threats against them.

Canada-China Relations committee  I just finished a book on this issue. It's the second book I've written on indigenous peoples. There are indeed some similarities in our histories, including the loss of territory and the difficulty indigenous peoples have in gaining recognition for their sovereignty. Many of the issues are very similar.

Canada-China Relations committee  Yes.

Canada-China Relations committee  Yes, they do have international development assistance, and it's focused, of course, on the countries that have diplomatic relations with the Republic of China. These countries actually do recognize the government in Taipei as being the Government of China, which is a bit anachronistic in itself in some ways, but it's still useful because that means Taiwan doesn't have to declare independence from the Republic of China.

Canada-China Relations committee  I think the relationship between Japan and Taiwan could inspire Canada in many ways. In this report, I gave an example of a dialogue held between political parties on security and defence. It is not a state-to-state dialogue, between departments of Defence and so on, but between the parties in power.

Canada-China Relations committee  They were spectators.

Canada-China Relations committee  I think it might be a good idea to do this in the future.

Canada-China Relations committee  There's so much we're losing because we don't have Taiwan in the UN. I think the representative talked a bit about that regarding the WHO and so forth. In addition to that, as we're talking about indigenous issues, there are issues of indigenous rights in Taiwan that are unresolved, such as the rights of indigenous people to hunt according to their traditions.

Canada-China Relations committee  What I was thinking about there—and I was hoping that somebody would ask about it—is that with our chair of Taiwan studies, we have generally had no problem at all and no pressure from China at all, but something did happen once. That was in the year 2015 when we had a guest speaker, Dr.

Canada-China Relations committee  I think we have a very precarious peace right now.

Canada-China Relations committee  Yes. I say that because peace is the absence of war. There are, of course, grey-zone tactics going on just short of war. I think those exercises in August were a good example of that. I think they are trying to get the world accustomed to that.

Canada-China Relations committee  Yes. I think that's a signal to China that we're very concerned.

Canada-China Relations committee  Yes.

Canada-China Relations committee  In my opinion, there is a big difference between the two. In order to build relations with China, China has asked for recognition that Taiwan is an integral part of China. Mr. Mitchell Sharp said this was impossible, because Taiwan is not part of China. The fact that China is asking Canada to recognize this is already evidence.

Canada-China Relations committee  I think that's a very diplomatic formula. This very clearly challenges China's claim that Taiwan belongs to the People's Republic of China. This diplomatic convention was necessary, in 1970, to have a diplomatic relationship with China.