diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index ea9cb3221..9cfb2be17 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -139,12 +139,18 @@ if not get_option('cairo').disabled()
     if cairo_dep.type_name() == 'pkgconfig'
       cairo_ft_dep = dependency('cairo-ft', required: get_option('cairo'))
     else
-      if cpp.has_header('cairo-ft.h') and \
-         cpp.has_function('cairo_ft_font_face_create_for_ft_face', dependencies: cairo_dep)
-        cairo_ft_dep = cairo_dep
-      else
-        cairo_ft_dep = dependency('', required: false)
-      endif
+      cairo_ft_dep = cairo_dep
+      # TODO: Apparently the following isn't reliable to detect whether a dependency provides
+      #       something or not so let's assume it is always enabled as we control
+      #       cairo subproject anyway for now.  To fix and test run .ci/build-win32.sh and
+      #       make sure hb-view.exe is not missing.
+      #
+      # if cpp.has_header('cairo-ft.h') and \
+      #    cpp.has_function('cairo_ft_font_face_create_for_ft_face', dependencies: cairo_dep)
+      #   cairo_ft_dep = cairo_dep
+      # else
+      #   cairo_ft_dep = dependency('', required: false)
+      # endif
     endif
   else
     cairo_ft_dep = dependency('', required: false)