Globe and Mail
Date: July 12, 2018 
By: David Mulroney, contributed to the Globe and Mail

David Mulroney was executive director of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei from 1998-2001, and Canada’s ambassador to China from 2009-12.

To the extent that Canadians worry about security in East Asia, they look north, to the Korean peninsula, or south, to where China is building a formidable militarized zone on rocks and shoals thousands of kilometres from its coast. But the region’s most dangerous hot spot lies between these two, around Taiwan, an island that China is stepping up long-standing efforts to reclaim, a campaign that could bring it into direct conflict with Taiwan’s sole defender, the United States.

Sensing opportunity in the policy confusion of the Trump era, China’s President Xi Jinping is increasing efforts to eliminate the space available to Taiwan internationally, pressuring other countries, multilateral institutions and global corporations to fall in line. Chinese military exercises off Taiwan have become more frequent and more threatening.

Reverberations from this campaign have recently been felt in Canada.

In May, Chinese social media, which typically echoes Mr. Xi’s nationalistic tone, erupted in response to images of T-shirts bearing the map of China, allegedly sold at a Gap outlet in Canada. The problem: The map didn’t include the island of Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory. Gap immediately apologized and promised an investigation.   [FULL  STORY]