Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is boosting military spending and expanding trade ties in the Indo-Pacific region as part of a “generational” policy shift aimed at countering China’s influence.
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affair Melanie Joly on Sunday morning released her nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy, including nearly US$1.7 billion in spending. That money is being used for more navy patrols in the region, better intelligence and cybersecurity measures, and increased cooperation with regional partners in the East and South China seas.
The 26-page document — unveiled by Joly and a trio of other ministers in Vancouver, with Trudeau’s defense head holding a virtual briefing later on Sunday — includes a lengthy section on China, which it refers to as an “increasingly disruptive global power.”
Photo: Reuters
It cites multiple military, security and economic threats posed by the Beijing, while acknowledging the need to work with it on issues such as climate change, global health, biodiversity and nuclear nonproliferation.
Joly, in an hour-long interview with Bloomberg News ahead of the strategy statement’s release, said the world’s geopolitical “tectonic plates” are shifting. That is threatening international norms that have kept the world safe since World War II, as well as creating supply chain uncertainty and inflation.
“When it comes to China, we know that there’s a battle of influence happening in the region,” she said on Friday in Montreal. “So we have to step up our game.”
Canada will also toughen its rules around foreign investment and take other steps to defend itself from “foreign interference,” the document says.
Its publication comes less than two weeks after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) confronted Trudeau on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia, admonishing the Canadian leader for providing the media with information about an earlier discussion.
Joly told Bloomberg the encounter did not surprise her, as she has also had “frank conversations” with her Chinese counterpart in the course of diplomacy.
“You saw what we see happening normally,” she said. “You just had a glimpse of the political reality.”
She also said crafting an Indo-Pacific strategy would have been fruitless without addressing China’s growing influence, “the elephant in the room.”
Canada will increase its diplomatic and trade presence to create a more predictable environment for business investment in Asia, Joly said, adding that it plans to invest C$750 million (US$558 million) in sustainable infrastructure projects, which it hopes would attract further capital from Canadian pension funds.
At the same time, increased military cooperation with regional partners would protect the country’s Pacific interests, just as alliances with Europe through NATO, and the US through the North American Aerospace Defense Command, have historically protected its Arctic and Atlantic interests, she said.
Canada would invest almost C$500 million over five years on enhanced defense in the region, she said.
“For a long time we’ve defined ourselves through the relationship we have with Europe,” Joly said. “It is time to look towards the Pacific.”
The strategy contains a section devoted to deepening economic ties with India, and another devoted to Japan and South Korea — a neighborhood it dubs the North Pacific.
Canada has struggled to diversify its Pacific trading relationships beyond China, its second-largest trade partner after the US. Trade with China totaled C$125.8 billion in the last 12 months to September, representing 8.6 percent of trade flows, Statistics Canada data showed. That compares with less than 7 percent from all other major Indo-Pacific countries combined — a proportion that is little changed since 1997, when Canada-China trade was minimal.
There are numerous planks in the strategy meant to grow Canada’s trade relationships, including a new series of “Team Canada” trade missions to bring business leaders to Indo-Pacific countries, and a C$65.1 million program to increase Canada’s science and research partnerships with Taiwan, South Korea, India, Japan and Singapore.
The C$750 million infrastructure program is the largest ticket item in the plan, and is part of Canada’s contribution to the US$600 billion G7 infrastructure plan announced earlier this year to counter China’s Belt and Road program.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
RSS