Conservative Government moving towards more principled foreign policy

Thus far, I'm quite impressed with the Conservative government foreign policy. In contrast to the Liberals, it seems to able to make foreign policy decisions based on principles of democracy, human rights, and freedom. Chretien and Martin, all too often, shied away from tough policy choices, for fear of alienating a political base, or kowtowing to larger powers. But we're seeing a nice shift towards doing the right thing under Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Minister Peter MacKay.



Amongst the welcome new shifts include:

• a ban on the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization
• end to funding for the Hamas-led Palestinian government
• concern for Chinese espionage on Canadian soil infringing upon Canadian sovereignty
  

But the Conservative party pledged to: articulate Canada's core values of freedom, democracy, human rights, and compassion for the less fortunate on the international stage. Harper himself pledged in his acceptance speech to promote Canada's democratic ideals.

For the Conservatives to live up to their promises, its necessary for them to support Taiwan, a thriving demcracy which is under threat by the Chinese dictatorship. The first such test will be during the WHA this week. We will see if Canada supports Taiwan's bid for entry to the World Health Organization. If this government truly values freedom, democracy, human rights, health, and inclusiveness, then there is no choice but to support Taiwan, a democratic ally and fight for its entry to the WHO. This government has shown that it can make principled decisions. Its time for it to ignore the irrational objections of China, and stand up for what is right. It's time for Canada to fully support Taiwan's entry to the WHO.