We mustn't let fear of China determine our relationship with Taiwan
According to recent news reports, a delegation of eight Canadian MPs and senators from the Canada-Taiwan Friendship Group and a parliamentary trade committee are planning to visit Taiwan as early as October. Although such visits are not unusual, this time around the announcement has attracted more attention than usual. This is largely due to China’s…
The big losers from the tariff are, without a doubt, American consumers
By Olivier Rancourt and Gabriel Giguere The Canadian softwood lumber dispute with the United States, which has been dragging on for some 40 years now, is long overdue for a resolution. Despite setbacks before WTO and NAFTA tribunals, accusations of subsidized production from American decision-makers and producers continue. The accusations have notably led to the…
But it could turn out to be the wisest approach to follow
Plans are useless, but planning is indispensable Dwight Eisenhower I was recently invited to present my views on Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy in discussion with Asian ambassadors in Ottawa. I noted that it’s better not to hold one’s breath waiting for a government policy document. That’s why Canada’s preferred foreign policy approach in normal times is…
Ottawa’s non-existent profile in Indo-Pacific affairs a cause for concern and disappointment
If Canada has pretensions to being an Indo-Pacific power, then it has a difficult image problem to overcome – not in terms of its national reputation as a constructive and valued member of the international community, which are “a given,” but in terms of its “presence” and “engagement” with this pivotal region. While it is…
We have to decide if we want to have opinions or influence
There’s an old saying in the government: “There’s a book inside all retired senior officials and Ambassadors.” With some modesty, I might have a few chapters and articles, and occasionally one percolates to the surface and is published. The invitation I received to testify recently before the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade caused…
Anxiety in London, Ottawa and Wellington that their influence is waning
Recently there has been a welcome debate about the extent to which the Five Eyes security partnership between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States can and should be mobilized for strategic and diplomatic activities outside of its traditional intelligence, military, and law enforcement collaborations. This debate was further fuelled in…
Xi has changed the game, and the U.S. needs to maintain "ambiguity" while constantly adapting to avoid war in the Taiwan Strait
In recent months, a number of American security analysts have argued that the United States’ longstanding use of “strategic ambiguity” in the Taiwan Strait has outlived its utility. For example, in widely reported remarks, retired U.S. Adm. James Stavridis posited that “the longstanding U.S. policy of ‘strategic ambiguity,’ supporting Taiwan militarily without a formal commitment…
No more than a sliver of Canada’s natural resources should ever be controlled by non-democracies
Canadians are used to peace and relative prosperity compared to the rest of the world and are occasionally naïve about it. They assume it’s a regular state of affairs rather than an exception. Canada is an exception, in large part because the country is surrounded by three oceans with one neighbour, the United States, a…
We are in a stronger position to deal with China than many assume
In a scene from the pre-COVID world in December 2019, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sat down for an interview in a crowded, bustling Italian restaurant in Montreal. Clinging on to power with a minority government, Trudeau’s Liberal Party had just survived a bruising election. But with Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou still under house arrest in…
The RCI controversy shows CBC’s primary purpose is the acquisition – at the expense of private broadcasters – of audiences and money
An uprising backed by former prime minister Joe Clark and actor Donald Sutherland is trying to force the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. to hit pause on its plans to dismantle Radio Canada International (RCI). If successful, the move to save CBC’s once-vaunted service that took Canada to the world will throw a wrench into the CBC’s…