Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy Calls for Collective Action With Allies to Confront China

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly responds to questions as Public Safety Minister Marco Mendocino listens during a news conference to announce Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy in Vancouver on Nov. 27, 2022. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

News Analysis

Canada’s long-awaited Indo-Pacific Strategy has identified the Chinese communist regime as “an increasingly disruptive global power” and pledges to join allies in confronting Beijing on a range of issues—something the Liberal government has rarely done in past engagement with China.

It makes reference to China over 50 times, calling it out as a key security threat to the stability of the region—one that it says Canada and its allies must unite forces to counter.

“China is an increasingly disruptive global power,” the strategy document reads.

“China’s rise, enabled by the same international rules and norms that it now increasingly disregards, has had an enormous impact on the Indo-Pacific, and it has ambitions to become the leading power in the region.

“China’s assertive pursuit of its economic and security interests, advancement of unilateral claims, foreign interference and increasingly coercive treatment of other countries and economies have significant implications in the region, in Canada and around the world.”

China's aircraft carrier Liaoning takes part in a military drill of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy in the western Pacific Ocean on April 18, 2018. Reuters

The strategy recognizes Beijing’s ambitions to rewrite international norms to its benefit, laying out the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) violations of existing rules-based international order and basic human rights, including its disregard for the United Nations’ ruling on stakes in the South China Sea, Beijing’s continued militarization of that region, and its “coercive diplomacy” and non-market trade practices, like forced labour, that have impacted Canada and others.

“The global community continues to see the effects of lending practices that diverge from international standards and create risks for developing economies and their governance,” the strategy said, also pointing to reports of China’s abuse of religious and ethnic minorities within its territory.

“Canada has been compelled to adjust warnings to Canadians travelling to China, as well as to the business community, to account for the growing risk of arbitrary application of Chinese laws.”

The language used in the strategy signals a change from the Trudeau government’s earlier approach of seeking closer ties with Beijing, which some experts have attributed to the political legacy of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

“[Pierre Trudeau] provided much support for the CCP since the [early days], even helping the People’s Republic of China to open up relations to the international community,” Sheng Xue, a leader in the overseas Chinese pro-democracy movement in Canada, told The Epoch Times in a previous interview.

“The political legacy left to him by his father, shaped [Justin] Trudeau’s way of dealing with China when he came to office,” she added.

Collaborate and Challenge

Trudeau has not commented on the Indo-Pacific strategy since its release, though he has re-tweeted portions of it posted on Twitter by his cabinet, which focus on promoting trade and collaboration in the region.

In the Nov. 27 press conference unveiling  the strategy, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said that issues such as national security, economy and prosperity, democratic values, climate change, and human rights “will be shaped by the relationship Canada has with Indo-Pacific countries.”

“China’s sheer size and influence makes cooperation necessary to address some of the world’s existential pressures, such as climate change and biodiversity loss, global health and nuclear proliferation. And China’s economy offers significant opportunities for Canadian exporters,” the strategy said.

“Canada will, at all times, unapologetically defend our national interest, be it with regard to the global rules that govern global trade, international human rights or navigation and overflight rights.”

The policy document also said that Canada would “challenge China” in areas of “profound disagreement,” citing examples such as “when it engages in coercive behaviour—economic or otherwise—ignores human rights obligations or undermines our national security interests and those of partners in the region.”

Chinese police officers stand guard outside the Canadian embassy in Beijing on Dec. 10, 2018. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images

Defence Minister Anita Anand also outlined Ottawa’s willingness to challenge China as she outlined the military and security elements of the Indo-Pacific Strategy on Nov. 27.

“We will challenge China when we ought to, we will cooperate with China when we must, and we will work closely with our allies and partners to help maintain peace, security, and stability in the region,” Anand told reporters.

Reaction

Under the new strategy, Ottawa has pledged close to $2.3 billion on new initiatives to bolster Canadian military and economic presence in the Indo-Pacific. While some have welcomed the government’s updated guidelines for the region, others have called for stronger and more concrete actions to address threats posed by malign actors like Beijing.

Tory MP Michael Chong, who serves as his party’s foreign affairs critic, quoted a news report on social media that said the strategy is a “good first step,“ while also sharing articles that said it was overly ”modest” and an act of “braggadocio.”

David Mulroney, Canada’s former ambassador to China, said the strategy will be ineffective in addressing Beijing’s influence operations that directly harm Canadians and national interests.

“In a few weeks, if not days, Canada’s Indo Pacific ’strategy,' a grab-bag of expenditures looking for a purpose, will be forgotten. No big deal. But we can’t afford to forget an interference campaign so blatant the PRC no longer even tries to hide it,” he wrote on social media.

The NDP told The Canadian Press on Nov. 28 that it supports the strategy’s pledges to diversify trade away from China and deepen work on climate and human rights, with critic Heather McPherson promising to fight to ensure it is “not just another empty promise.”

Bloc Québécois said the strategy is crucial but the party said it remains skeptical that Ottawa would do enough to actually bring it to life.

The term “Indo-Pacific strategy” received international recognition after Japan started to broaden and deepen its relations with countries in the region in the aftermath of a 2012 geopolitical dispute with China over the Senkaku Islands.

Since then, dozens of countries and entities have produced their own version of the Indo-Pacific strategy, including the United States—under both former president Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden—India, New Zealand, France, the United Kingdom, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the European Union.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report