'Calling a spade a spade': Foreign affairs minister signals tougher stance on China in new Indo-Pacific Strategy
'Calling a spade a spade': Foreign affairs minister signals tougher stance on China in new Indo-Pacific Strategy
The federal government has unveiled its long-awaited Indo-Pacific Strategy, which details a decade of plans for investment and partnerships in the region, and signals a tougher stance on China going forward.
In an interview with CTV’s Question Period with Joyce Napier, airing Sunday, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said the document simply puts in writing what Canada and its allies have long been moving toward when it comes to how they will engage with China.
“We’re calling a spade a spade,” she said. “When it comes to our engagement with China, we're clear: this is about protecting our national interests without compromising our values.”
“I've said it many times, and I'm saying it again: this is about making sure that we will compete with China when we ought to and we will co-operate with them when we must, and that includes on the question of climate change, on the question of pandemic prevention and also nuclear non-proliferation.”
The 23-page Indo-Pacific Strategy outlines the next decade worth of Canada’s initiatives and investments — totalling nearly $2.3 billion over the next five years — to bolster Canada’s economic and strategic role in the region.
Joly called the budget detailed in the plan a “first down payment” to assert Canada’s role as a “reliable partner in the region.”
“We have to look at the Pacific because that's where, indeed there are geopolitical tensions, but also that's where there is a lot of growth,” Joly said. “So we need to make sure that we step up our game, and that we invest.”
The strategy document dedicates a few pages to presenting Canada’s stance on China, but it does not detail specific initiatives or their cost.
Here’s some of what Canada say it plans to do as it relates to China going forward:
push back “against any form of foreign interference on Canadian soil”;
protect Canadian market access in China while working with clients to “diversify within, and beyond, that market”; and
push back “against any unilateral actions that threaten the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, as well as the East and South China Seas.”
“China is an increasingly disruptive global power,” the strategy states, adding Canada is aligning its approach to China with partners in the region and around the globe, including the United States.
The release of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy comes less than two weeks after a tense interaction between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 Summit was caught on video.
“In areas of profound disagreement, we will challenge China, including 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,” the document also states, in an embargoed copy given to reporters before its official release. “We must all abide by international rules.”
As part of Canada’s strategy in the Indo-Pacific, the document also states Canada plans to increase its naval presence, have intelligence and security forces in the region, and will take a leadership role in preventing cyber threats, including the spread of disinformation and ransomware.
A gay man is taking the federal government to court, challenging the constitutionality of a policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that he’s invited premiers to Ottawa for a 'working meeting' to discuss a health-care funding deal, on Feb. 7.
As the minority Liberals plot out their policy moves ahead of the 2023 parliamentary sitting, weighing heavily are commitments Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh that have to be acted on this year in order to uphold the two-party confidence-and-supply deal. Here is what needs to get done to keep the deal alive.
Governor of the Bank of Canada Tiff Macklem says he thinks Canada is 'turning the corner' on inflation, but he isn't ruling out that the country could enter a 'mild recession.' In an English-language broadcast exclusive interview with CTV National News Ottawa Bureau Chief Joyce Napier, Macklem encouraged Canadians to prepare a 'buffer' to withstand 'tougher times.'
After six weeks, more than 70 witnesses, and the submission of more than 7,000 documents into evidence, the public hearing portion of the Public Order Emergency Commission wrapped up on Friday.
Based on Justin Trudeau's first-day fail in the House of Commons, 'meeting the moment' is destined to become the most laughable slogan since the elder Pierre Trudeau’s disastrous campaign rallying cry in 1972, which insisted 'the land is strong' just as the economy tanked.
Like Jacinda Ardern, Justin Trudeau’s early handling of the pandemic was a reassuring communications exercise where harsh isolation measures went down easier with a hefty helping of government support, Don Martin writes in an exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca. 'But like the New Zealand Prime Minister, the Canadian PM's best days are arguably behind him. '
The Standing Committee on Transport gathered Thursday with MPs demanding an explanation for how that highly unusual Canadian winter combination of heavy snow and cold temperatures which delayed or cancelled thousands of post-pandemic reunions. What they got was a gold-medal finger-pointing performance, writes Don Martin in an exclusive opinion column for CTVNews.ca.
From a more coherent public health and carbon tax position, to cutting the 'Freedom Convoy' connection and smiling more, Pierre Poilievre has seven New Year's resolutions to woo the voters in 2023, writes Don Martin in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca.
A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked wide swaths of Turkiye and neighbouring Syria on Monday, killing more than 2,600 people and injuring thousands more as it toppled thousands of buildings and trapped residents under mounds of rubble.
As preparations are underway for the anticipated health-care 'working meeting' between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada's premiers on Tuesday, new details are emerging about how provinces anticipate the talks will unfold.
February's full snow moon, which first appeared this weekend, will light up the sky over the next two nights, with the spectacle already reaching full illumination on Sunday morning. But this year's full moon was smaller than those of recent years.
A former Liberal MP is seeking the dismissal of two criminal charges connected to his time in office. Raj Grewal's lawyer argues that prosecutors have not presented enough evidence to find him guilty of the two breach of trust charges, and the Crown has failed to establish essential elements required for such a finding.
The tech industry started the year with a wave of job cuts, around 50,000 in January alone, and there doesn't appear to be any let up this month. Here's a look at some of the companies that have announced layoffs so far.
Canada stood ready to provide help in the aftermath of a deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked Turkiye and Syria, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday, with over 2,300 people reported dead.
Two pilots walked away safe after a large air tanker owned by a Vancouver Island company crashed while battling wildfires in western Australia on Monday.
A powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked wide swaths of Turkiye and neighbouring Syria on Monday, killing more than 2,600 people and injuring thousands more as it toppled thousands of buildings and trapped residents under mounds of rubble.
February's full snow moon, which first appeared this weekend, will light up the sky over the next two nights, with the spectacle already reaching full illumination on Sunday morning. But this year's full moon was smaller than those of recent years.
Two pilots walked away safe after a large air tanker owned by a Vancouver Island company crashed while battling wildfires in western Australia on Monday.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday told fossil fuel producers they 'should not be in business' unless they are credibly aiming for net-zero emissions and warned that the world is walking into a 'wider war' over Ukraine.
Countries have rushed to dispatch aid, personnel and equipment to help rescue efforts in quake-stricken areas of Turkiye and Syria. Here's a glance at what's being provided so far:
As preparations are underway for the anticipated health-care 'working meeting' between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada's premiers on Tuesday, new details are emerging about how provinces anticipate the talks will unfold.
Canadian researchers are drawing attention to the increasing prevalence of 'a pathological pursuit of muscularity' among Canadian boys and young men, with a new study that found one in four were at risk of developing what's known as muscle dysmorphia.
The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) is calling on the federal government to do more for cancer patients, as the system continues to struggle nearly three years after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Google parent Alphabet is planning to launch a chatbot service and more artificial intelligence for its search engine as well as developers, making a riposte to Microsoft in a rivalry to lead a new wave of technology.
Pakistan's media regulator said Monday it blocked Wikipedia services in the country for hurting Muslim sentiment by not removing purportedly blasphemous content from the site. Critics denounced Islamabad's action, saying it was a blow to digital rights.
Salman Rushdie's new novel 'Victory City' will be published on Tuesday, nearly six months after a man repeatedly stabbed the writer onstage during a lecture in New York state in what was widely condemned as an attack on freedom of expression.
The bail hearing was postponed Monday for a Native American former 'Dances With Wolves' actor who is accused of sexually abusing and trafficking Indigenous girls.
Charles Kimbrough, a Tony- and Emmy-nominated actor who played a straight-laced news anchor opposite Candice Bergen on 'Murphy Brown,' died Jan. 11 in Culver City, California. He was 86.
The tech industry started the year with a wave of job cuts, around 50,000 in January alone, and there doesn't appear to be any let up this month. Here's a look at some of the companies that have announced layoffs so far.
Dell Technologies Inc is cutting about 6,650 jobs, or 5 per cent of its global workforce, as it struggles with a slump in the personal computer market and braces for a potential recession.
A US$747 million Powerball jackpot will be up for grabs Monday night for players willing to risk $2 against the long, long odds of winning the big prize.
She started throwing punches to get exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic, but now 17-year-old Talia Birch is gearing up to compete in the Canada Games as it opens up to female boxers for the first time
Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded figure skating coach Eteri Tutberidze one of the country's highest honours Monday, nearly a year after a doping case involving one of her skaters overshadowed the Winter Olympics.
Manchester City was accused by the Premier League on Monday of providing misleading information about its finances over a nine-year period when the club was attempting to establish itself as a force in English and European soccer following its takeover by Abu Dhabi's ruling family.
A Montreal woman is passing along her father's extensive collection of over 31,000 Expos baseball cards. April Whitzman's father, Steve Whitzman, collected the cards from 1969 to 2016. A huge Expos fan, he's got every player covered.
Automakers Renault and Nissan on Monday formalized their reboot of a relationship that had grown rocky, culminating in the spectacular fall of top executive Carlos Ghosn, who had led successful turnarounds at both companies before his arrest and daring escape.
New research suggests that cutting fossil fuel emissions by adopting electric vehicles can improve air quality and potentially reduce respiratory problems in communities. But these benefits may not apply to all neighbourhoods in the same way.
Former NFL player Jim Bob Morris is heading to the Super Bowl in Phoenix from Bloomington, Illinois, in a newly refurbished set of wheels. His ride has new paint, new seating and even a new bathroom.
