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Strategic Vision vol. 10, no. 49 (May, 2021)
Hostage Diplomacy Despite its ties to China, Liberal Party of Canada is mishandling relations Dean Karalekas
photo: Office of the President, ROC
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ROC President Tsai Ing-wen meets Canadian Trade Office in Taipei Executive Director Jordan Reeves on July 7, 2020.
epublic of China (ROC) President Tsai Ing-wen was awarded this year’s John McCain Prize for Leadership in Public Service, according to a May 3, 2021, announcement by Canada’s Halifax International Security Forum (HFX). This event is noteworthy for several reasons, primarily because it is rare for a leader in Taiwan to be openly recognized by an international forum or organization, given the pressure customarily exerted by Beijing against such actions. More tellingly, the conferral of the award was covered widely in the media once it emerged that Canada’s Liberal Party government had attempted to put the kibosh on the attempt to honour Tsai.
It was reported by Politico that an official with Canada’s Defense Ministry, in a November 9, 2020, phone call with HFX President Peter Van Praagh, issued an ultimatum: if you give Tsai the award, Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan will not speak at your forum, as had been previously planned; Moreover, the government will pull its funding for the event. After the details of the ultimatum were leaked to the public, a scandal ensued, forcing the government to backtrack on its threat. The incident lays bare the primary problem hampering Canada-Taiwan ties, and that is the Liberal Party of Canada. While most international reporting on the HFX award framed the story as an ex-
Dean Karalekas is an affiliated research fellow with the Centre of Austronesian Studies at the University of Central Lancashire. He can be reached for comment at dkaralekas@hotmail.com