Preserving Taiwan’s Status in the Indo-Pacific: Towards a Creative Approach

Table of Contents Introduction Enhancing Freedom of Navigation Operations and Sending the Right Signal Supporting Taiwan in Building Resilience: Defence Industry Diplomacy? People-to-People Ties at the Security Level For a Creative Approach to Defence Diplomacy End Notes About the Authors Canadian Global Affairs Institute Introduction Canada’s 2022 Indo-Pacific Strategy rightly recognizes escalating tensions across the Taiwan Strait as a key manifestation of increasing great-power competition in the Indo-Pacific region. Given escalating rhetoric from Chinese President Xi Jinping, massive increases in Chinese military hardware and a proliferation of aggressive Chinese behaviour, it has become increasingly difficult to sail freely across the Taiwan Strait and to engage with Taiwan. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is increasing its capability to threaten and influence Taiwan through conventional military, hybrid or grey-zone tactics. Taiwan supports international norms and the rules-based international order, is dedicated to democracy and plays a critical role in the information technologies and communications industry. Thus, it’s in Canada’s interests to support the maintenance of the regional status quo. The Taiwan Strait’s importance and its potential to be at the heart of a global crisis requires Canada to develop as deep and sophisticated an understanding as possible of Taiwan’s security concerns and views on its security situation. The circumstances governing relations between the international community and Taiwan – given relations with the PRC and various understandings of a One China policy – actually put Canada in a unique position to contribute to maintaining Taiwan’s autonomy vis-à-vis the PRC. Few countries have been willing to deploy naval assets to conduct Taiwan Strait transits, and fewer still have been willing to do so with the United States Navy, as Canada does. Canada thus has the potential to impact this situation, outstripping our ability to shape security in most other areas outside of North America. Despite this strong role, the importance of regional circumstances for international peace and stability warrants Canada deepening its relationship with Taiwan and broadening its understanding of the situation. In 2024, the Department of National Defence (DND) and Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) are entering into a period of spending restraint and reduced equipment readiness. The measures mentioned here will benefit from modest investments of human or financial resources and the continuation of existing practices. While Canada can better understand the region, some of our military and diplomatic practices provide more support for Taiwan than is often recognized. We need to continue and enhance these activities amid competing pressures for resources. TOP OF PAGE