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.”
“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.
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.“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.”
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.“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.
