Bloc Leader Blanchet Meets With Taiwanese President

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet speaks with reporters before question period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, June 8, 2026. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet travelled to Taiwan to meet with the island nation’s president Lai Ching-te this week. His visit is the latest in a series of Canadian lawmakers travelling to Taiwan despite China’s Ottawa envoy warning against such visits.

Blanchet and several members of his caucus spent more than an hour with Lai on Sept. 8 to discuss a number of issues, including economic cooperation, the Bloc leader announced in a brief social media post.

“The welcome is exceptional, the political, economic, and military meetings highly relevant, and the friendship between our peoples enduring,” Blanchet wrote. “More details to come.”

Lai also commented on the meeting on social media and thanked Blanchet and his party for supporting Taiwan’s “international participation.”

“Thrilled to welcome the 1st delegation from Bloc Quebecois to Taiwan,” Lai wrote. “By combining the technological strengths of Québec & Taiwan, let’s develop even more efficient democratic supply chains.”

Blanchet’s visit to Taiwan marked the Bloc’s first official delegation to Taiwan since the Quebec party’s establishment in 1991.

It also comes four months after Conservative MP and foreign affairs critic Michael Chong met with Lai in May to discuss Canada-Taiwan relations and the role of Canadian MPs’ visits in maintaining bilateral ties.

Like Chong, Blanchet expressed support for Taiwan’s democracy amid ongoing pressure from Beijing.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) considers self-governed Taiwan to be a separatist province, even though it has never exercised control over the island nation, and aims to bring it under the authority of Beijing. Chinese leadership, including President Xi Jinping, regularly reiterates that the “reunification” of Taiwan with mainland China is an “unstoppable historical trend.”

Blanchet spoke out against such rhetoric from Beijing during a speech delivered in French at the Presidential Office, according to local media reports.

He said the Bloc would support Taiwan’s right to self-determination as well as its involvement in global organizations, adding that economic frameworks like the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership remain “incomplete” without Taiwan’s membership.

Blanchet also vowed the Bloc would use its platform in Canadian Parliament to advocate for Taiwan as it pushes back against Beijing’s escalating diplomatic and maritime efforts to isolate the democratic island from global forums.

He said his party would urge democratic governments worldwide to stand against intimidation and diplomatic pressure from the Chinese regime.

Countries seeking diplomatic ties with Beijing cannot recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation.

Canada’s “One China policy” recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole government of China while maintaining active, unofficial economic and cultural ties with Taiwan. The policy neither endorses nor challenges Beijing’s position on Taiwan.

Prime Minister Mark Carney visited China from Jan. 14 to 17, the first official visit to China by a Canadian prime minister since 2017. Weeks before Carney’s scheduled departure to China, Liberal MPs Helena Jaczek and Marie-France Lalonde, who were part of a parliamentary delegation in Taiwan, were called back before the conclusion of their visit.

The MPs said in a statement it was to “avoid confusion with Canada’s foreign policy, given the overlap with the Prime Minister’s engagement in Beijing.”

Carney said in February that Canada has trade relations with Taiwan but is “focusing on strengthening our trade relations with China.”

Chong said the move made it appear that Ottawa was “kowtowing to Beijing.”