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Strains in Canada’s relations with China, including the arbitrary detention of Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, have led to unprecedented debate about how Canada should best manage relations with that powerful, authoritarian state. Former Canadian diplomats have already been arguing that constant deferral to Beijing only makes us seem weak. It is time that we think also about how Canadian acquiescence to China’s demands contributes to flaws in international safety and security.

One obvious flaw is that China has successfully excluded Taiwan from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which will be holding its triennial assembly at its Montréal headquarters at the end of September. Taiwan was invited to the 2013 Assembly, but because of Chinese pressure, the invitation was not extended in 2016.

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Non-participation means that Taiwan relies on getting information from the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to gain information and conduct audits of Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA). Although Washington and Taipei make best efforts, this still leads to delays in sharing important information. This is not acceptable for a country that hosted no less than 1.6 million flights and 66 million air passengers in 2017 (numbers roughly comparable to France and only slightly behind Australia).