While the government deserves applause, there are some gaps in the plan Several years in the making, Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy has finally been released. It’s a welcome fresh take on a time-worn tradition of trying to engage more substantially across the Pacific. In one of many previous attempts, the Asia-Pacific Foundation was created in 1985…
Isolating China could lead to a series of unintended consequences Canadian Global Affairs Minister Melanie Joly delivered a speech in Toronto today foreshadowing Canada’s long-awaited Indo-Pacific Strategy, promised within a month. She highlighted the geopolitical risks of doing business with China and the desire to strengthen ties with India and South-East Asia. The hardline China…
The Biden administration has clearly signalled it wants a new Cold War in Asia Under pressure from big business, the Trudeau government has requested to join a U.S.-led China containment pact called the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). The move will significantly affect economic development, peace, and Canada’s foreign policy. The IPEF is the Biden administration’s…
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…
Key allies concerned about where Canada stands on China and Russia
By Matthew Bondy and Jeffrey Collins When Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom announced their new “AUKUS” defence and security pact in September 2021, it took Canada by surprise. Though Canada joined those nations and New Zealand as members of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing club that traces back to the Anglo-American alliance in…
If this is the best the Americans can do to counter China, then Canada has to look elsewhere
The announcement on Victoria Day of the beginning of talks for countries to join the U.S. Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, widely covered in the U.S. and Asia, was mentioned in Canada only to note that we weren’t invited. That turns out to be the least important piece of news. The new initiative, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework…