INTERVIEW/Canada's Taiwan policy unchanged, engages Taipei on own merits: Envoy

Taipei, July 1 (CNA) Canada's long-standing framework to interact with Taipei "has not changed," Canada's representative to Taiwan, Marie-Louise Hannan, said Monday amid concerns in Taipei over Mark Carney's ongoing efforts to improve relations with China.

Speaking to CNA in an interview, Hannan, who took office as Canada's de facto ambassador to Taiwan last September, cited Carney's remarks that middle powers must work together to create a "third path" with real impact as being significant for ties with Taipei.

"Essentially, Canada's economic security and our overall safety and security are the big priorities that have something to do with Taiwan," she said.

History of good relations

The envoy said Canada already has a strong and growing presence in Taiwan, as it sees the latter as an attractive market for Canadian products and services.

Beyond trade and investment, the two sides have also maintained close people-to-people exchanges, which are the "precious foundation of our relationship with Taiwan," she said.

Such exchanges began with early Canadian missionaries such as George Leslie Mackay, who founded schools, churches, and hospitals across northern Taiwan 150 years ago, she said.

This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei (CTOT), she said. The organization serves as Canada's de facto embassy in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic ties.

The office was established in 1986 with only three employees. Four decades later, it has grown to a staff of 53, reflecting the closer bilateral relationship across a wide range of areas, she said.

Challenges arise

Even with those friendly ties, however, challenges have emerged in Taipei-Ottawa relations since Carney assumed office as Canada's prime minister in March 2025.

In January, two ruling Liberal Party members of Parliament, Helena Jaczek and Marie-France Lalonde, were reportedly encouraged to cut short a visit to Taiwan before Carney visited Beijing.

It was the first trip by a Canadian leader to China since 2017, and Canada may have wanted to avoid any potential obstacles in its bid to reset ties with China.

A month later, Harry Tseng (曾厚仁), Taiwan's representative to Canada, accused the Carney administration of delaying a Trade Cooperation Framework Arrangement (TCFA) with Taiwan in favor of rebuilding relations with Beijing.

Asked to comment on the two incidents, Hannan told CNA that Canada has maintained a positive approach toward its engagement with Taiwan for years.

"Taiwan is mentioned explicitly in our Indo-Pacific Strategy. And our one-China policy has not changed. So the basic framework really hasn't changed, despite what happened around the [January] visit."

The decision to cut short the January trip was "at the discretion of the members of Parliament to decide to travel," she said, adding that Canadian MPs have continued to visit Taiwan since.

On the alleged delay in finalizing the TCFA, the envoy said Ottawa and Taipei had completed the substantive negotiations on the deal and were now in the post-negotiation phase. "It's not a sign that we're not interested."

Citing Canada's free trade agreement with South Korea as an example, she said that deal took eight years to complete. "The point that I want to make is it's not that unusual."

Asked whether the reported delay was related to China, Hannan said Ottawa engages with Taipei on its own merits, even though it also considers its engagement with Beijing important.

She noted that over the past year, Canada has had a new government and is facing "extraordinarily challenging" circumstances regarding its "traditionally largest economic partner," the United States, referring to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policies.

"So I think any place would understand that we have to do things in the order that we are able to handle a lot of different priorities."

Personal history with Taiwan

Hannan was familiar with Taiwan long before taking up Canada's top representative post in Taipei.

She told CNA that she first visited Taiwan in 1989 to study Mandarin for a month.

"We lived at the Chientan Youth Activity Center, and I remember waking up in Taipei, looking out the window and seeing the Grand Hotel, and thinking, 'Is everything in Taiwan like this?' It's really special."

She later returned on a Rotary Club scholarship to continue her Mandarin studies at National Taiwan Normal University from 1992 to 1993.

"And that was a great experience. I had some really fun, interesting classmates from around the world -- Japanese, Korean, American, Canadian, European, everybody."

While studying Mandarin, she also worked as a researcher in computational linguistics at Academia Sinica, Taiwan's top research institution.

In 2001, she returned to Taipei to serve as deputy chief of CTOT's business section until 2005.

Before taking office as Canada's representative to Taiwan in September 2025, replacing Jim Nickel, Hannan most recently served as the director general responsible for South Asia at Global Affairs Canada.

Her other overseas postings have also included becoming Canada's first dedicated ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2016, as well as serving in Australia, Malaysia, the U.S., China and India.