Conservative MP Michael Chong is travelling to Taiwan this week in a self-described bid to assert Canadian sovereignty.
The former cabinet minister says the trip is to show solidarity with Taiwan, and also to spite China’s ambassador to Canada.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail last month, Beijing’s envoy to Canada said any MPs travelling to Taiwan would risk damaging the new partnership between the two countries Prime Minister Mark Carney signed this year.
In a news release, Chong said Canadians “do not take direction from a foreign government about where Canadian MPs can travel internationally.”
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Given his role in government it doesn’t really make sense. But we have no rules against citizens traveling there so it’s really not a story.
One story here is that China is interfering in this visit, and that the Chinese envoy to Canada ‘warned’ Ottawa about such trip by MPs. Beijing’s coercion as usual.
There’s a lot more CCP interference stories regarding this MP than this. But he doesn’t have the capacity for diplomatic visits at present.