Let's pass the Taiwan Affairs Act...

I am hugely in favour of closer links between Canada and Taiwan...

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday praised the Canadian government for gradually reversing its policy on Taiwan, specifically regarding Taiwan's participation in the WHO and its opposition to China's "Anti-Secession" Law.

"The Canadian government has gradually shifted its position from tilting toward China to strongly criticizing its human-rights record," Chen said as he met a Canadian parliamentary delegation at the Presidential Office yesterday morning. "It shows the Canadian government has struck a balance between interests and values."

Over the past four years, Chen said the Canadian parliament has passed six resolutions in support of Taiwan's observer status in the World Health Assembly. Canadian Health Minister Tony Clement spoken in favor of Taiwan's "meaningful participation" in the WHO in May and Ottawa has also expressed adamant opposition to China's passage of the "Anti-Secession" Law in March 2005, Chen said.

The president said he would like to see the Canadian parliament pass a "Taiwan Affairs Act."

A "Taiwan Affairs Act" bill was introduced in the House of Commons in April 2005 by a Conservative member. It copied several provisions of the US' Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), but omitted the TRA's defense clause.