Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today announced
nearly $170 million in new funding for the Indo-Pacific region, including investing in Canadian government offices, to “deepen” trade ties and defend Canadian interests in the region.
The announcement came on the tail end of
Trudeau’s visit to Bangkok, Thailand, for the 2022 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, where he met with leaders from a number of economies in the region.
The new funding allots $45 million to launch a number of “Minister-led trade missions” to the Indo-Pacific, which will include visits to Canadian chambers of commerce to “facilitate long-term trade and investment opportunities,” according to a
news release from the Prime Minister’s Office.
A total of $31.8 million of will go toward establishing a Canadian agriculture office in the Indo-Pacific, and the largest portion of funding, $92.5 million, will go toward expanding “capacity at Canada’s missions in the Indo-Pacific and within Global Affairs Canada.”
Trudeau also said he met with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss North Korea’s most recent ballistic missile test, which he said landed just off Japan’s shores.
“This is completely unacceptable and must not continue,” he
told reporters on Nov. 18, adding that he also met with the prime ministers of Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and Australia.
“We’re committed to promoting peace, stability, and the rules-based order in the North Pacific and across the region. All global partners have a role to play,” Trudeau said.
Indo-Pacific Strategy
Trudeau said the new funding will be “a major part” of Canada’s upcoming Indo-Pacific strategy, of which Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly gave a rough outline during a
press conference in Toronto on Nov. 9 before departing with Trudeau for Southeast Asia.
Joly warned about doing business with China, saying Canadians “need to be clear-eyed” about the “geopolitical risks” involved.
“The decisions you take as businesspeople are your own,” she said. “As Canada’s top diplomat, my job is to tell you that there are geopolitical risks linked to doing business with the country.”
Trudeau
today said Canada will be reinforcing its Indo-Pacific military presence when it announces the new strategy.
“We'll be making new investments to enhance the Canadian Armed Forces engagement in the region,” he said. “This will support our allies, Japan and South Korea, and all of us in the Pacific.”
Reporters asked Trudeau if he'd had a follow-up conversation with Chinese leader Xi Jinping following the latter’s
confrontation of Trudeau at the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, on Nov. 16.
“There are always going to be more difficult conversations,” he replied. “Conversations don’t get to be easy when you’re standing up for your country.”
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
