The Washington-based group of security officials from the world’s democratic states has said it would cohost HFX Taipei with the Institute for National Defense and Security Research. “The [Halifax] think tank is heavily funded by the Canadian government,” DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said. “The HFX Taipei forum is effectively a form of semi-official cooperation between the two state-level think tanks.”Politico had reported that the Canadian government had warned the forum not to give the award to Tsai for fear of angering Beijing. DPP Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said the institute would discuss security issues regarding China at the forum. That Canadian lawmakers have stood by the forum in honoring Tsai suggests that Canadians’ views on China have changed, he said.

Source: Taipei Times July 22, 2021 15:56 UTC