Defence Minister Anita Anand highlighted concerns about China’s increased ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region at the 2022 Halifax International Security (HFX) Forum, where experts discussed threats to global security from authoritarian states and other malign actors.
“Our world is only growing darker,” Anand said in
her opening speech at the 14th annual HFX Forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia, pointing to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which she described as “a stark reminder of how fragile peace and stability can be.”
“But [Russian President] Vladimir Putin’s reckless and dangerous war of choice is just one of the threats facing the international community today—China is being increasingly aggressive in its desire to assert its ambitions in the Indo-Pacific.”
Anand called on like-minded states to work together to uphold international peace, stability, and freedom through a strong commitment to multilateralism.
“The Halifax International Security Forum is an important show of unity, collaboration, and resolve," she said, according to
a press release issued on Nov. 20. “We cannot take liberal democracy for granted. And as we work together to defend the values that we hold dear, Canada is here as a friend, ally and partner.”
Anand held bilateral discussions with a number of her counterparts and senior officials at the forum, including U.S. Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, Olha Stefanishyna, Dutch Minister of Defence, Kajsa Ollongren, and Sweden’s Minister of Defence, Pål Jonson, among others.
An estimated 400 senior government and military officials, policymakers, academics, and industry leaders from roughly 50 nations attended the HFX Forum from Nov. 18 to Nov. 20.
‘Challenge China’
Anand’s remark echoes the warnings from Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, who recently urged Canadian businesses against deepening their ties with Beijing.“The tectonic plates of the world’s power structures are moving,” Joly said to
an audience at the University of Toronto on Nov. 9, ahead of the release of her department’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, which she said will be launched within a month’s time.
“We will challenge China when we ought to, and we will co-operate with China when we must.”
Several
Tory lawmakers and
experts are calling on Ottawa to take a stronger stance on Beijing, following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s confrontation with Xi Jinping at the G20 summit last week, with the Chinese leader complaining to Trudeau about their discussion being “leaked” to the media.
