'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.
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.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sat down with CTV National News Chief News Anchor and Senior Editor Omar Sachedina for a year-end interview to reflect on the political shifts experienced in 2022, and to contemplate the challenges ahead in 2023. Here is a full transcript of the interview.
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.
Hope was in short supply just ten weeks ago on this 10-kilometre spit of sand at the end of the migration route for tens of thousands of Canadian snowbirds, Don Martin writes in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca from Florida's Fort Myers Beach. But there are signs, he says, things may return to normal much faster than anyone expected.
The beginning of February is expected to bring Arctic-like temperatures across much of Eastern Canada, thanks to frigid air from the polar vortex. The cold snap will descend on Eastern Canada this week, with temperatures becoming seasonable again on Sunday. In between, much of Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada can expect the coldest days yet this winter.
A family in the remote community of Peawanuck, Ont., is dealing not only with the death of their young daughter, but the loss of everything they owned in a Jan. 28 house fire.
A report commissioned by a non-profit organization founded by the late Jean Vanier says the Canadian sexually abused 25 women during his decades with the group.
A six-year-old girl died in hospital Sunday night after being involved in an incident at the Val-Saint-Côme ski resort in Lanaudiere. Quebec police are investigating, though details into the event are not yet known. Officers indicated that it involved a T-bar lift, but they were not able to say more.
The hybrid sitting structure and electronic voting system should become permanent features of the House of Commons, according to a new report from MPs on the Procedure and House Affairs Committee.
The World Health Organization decided Monday not to end to the COVID-19 global public health emergency it declared three years ago, even though the pandemic has reached what the international body calls an 'inflection point.'
Quebec RCMP say they rescued a man over the weekend who became lost in the woods in heavy snow while trying to cross the border into the United States.
British Columbia is taking a major step forward in its fight against the province’s deadly overdose crisis by decriminalizing the possession of a small amount of certain illicit drugs for personal use.
A family in the remote community of Peawanuck, Ont., is dealing not only with the death of their young daughter, but the loss of everything they owned in a Jan. 28 house fire.
A six-year-old girl died in hospital Sunday night after being involved in an incident at the Val-Saint-Côme ski resort in Lanaudiere. Quebec police are investigating, though details into the event are not yet known. Officers indicated that it involved a T-bar lift, but they were not able to say more.
A report commissioned by a non-profit organization founded by the late Jean Vanier says the Canadian sexually abused 25 women during his decades with the group.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and his allies have been put on notice by a prosecutor, but the warning didn't come from anyone at the Justice Department.
Describing meetings at a car wash and a smuggler's country house, a onetime drug trafficker testified Monday that he paid a former cabinet-level Mexican security official millions of dollars for help that included U.S. government information about a huge cocaine shipment in Mexico.
The Memphis Police Department has disciplined an officer involved in the arrest, beating and death of Tyre Nichols, the department said Monday. Also Monday, two Fire Department emergency medical technicians and a driver were fired in connection with the case.
A suicide bomber struck a crowded mosque inside a police compound in Pakistan on Monday, causing the roof to collapse and killing at least 59 people and wounding more than 150 others, officials said.
Defence attorneys in South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh's double murder trial continued Monday to question the way state agents collected and analyzed evidence in the shooting deaths of Murdaugh's wife and son.
The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, claimed responsibility for Monday's suicide bombing at a mosque inside a police compound in the northwestern city of Peshawar. The bombing is likely to strain relations further between Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, who are sheltering the TTP leadership and fighters.
The hybrid sitting structure and electronic voting system should become permanent features of the House of Commons, according to a new report from MPs on the Procedure and House Affairs Committee.
Members of Parliament returned to Ottawa to resume sitting for the first time in 2023 on Monday, with the state of Canada's health-care system, the health of the Canadian economy, and rates of violent crime in this country all top of mind.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says there is no reason to believe Canada's national security was under threat at any time due to the RCMP's dealings with an Ontario company that has links to China.
The World Health Organization decided Monday not to end to the COVID-19 global public health emergency it declared three years ago, even though the pandemic has reached what the international body calls an 'inflection point.'
The world is 'dangerously unprepared' for future pandemics, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) say in a report published on Monday, calling on countries to update their preparedness plans by year-end.
New guidance for drinking alcohol could speed up changing consumer drinking habits as younger generations drink less and non-alcoholic beverages become more popular, advocates and business owners in the beverage industry say.
Chinese internet search major Baidu Inc is planning to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot service similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT in March, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
TikTok chief executive Shou Zi Chew will appear before the U.S. Energy and Commerce Committee in March, as lawmakers scrutinize the Chinese-owned video-sharing app.
YouTube superstar MrBeast is making the world clearer -- for at least 1,000 people. The content creator's latest stunt is paying for cataract removal for 1,000 people who were blind or near-blind but could not afford the surgery.
A Chicago prosecutor said Monday that she's dropping sex-abuse charges against singer R. Kelly following federal convictions in two courts that should guarantee the disgraced R&B star will be locked up for decades.
Most Black Canadians feel their employers made progress addressing anti-Black racism last year -- but they worry about what a recession could mean for those gains, a KPMG survey said.
When 1990s suede fringe jackets started making a comeback last year, a U.K.-based vintage clothing company decided to order four tonnes of suede from a supplier in the United States. Along with that shipment came a once-in-a lifetime discovery.
The Mindbender roller coaster at Galaxyland has been shut down, West Edmonton Mall announced on Monday. The redevelopment of the area is already underway, and the roller coaster is being decommissioned and removed.
Queen of clean Marie Kondo admits that tidying up is no longer top of her to-do list. Posting on her website shortly after the birth of her third child in 2021, the Japanese organization expert reflected on motherhood, saying she had 'eased up on herself' when it comes to tidying.
Bobby Hull once proudly said that he played the way he lived -- straightforward. The Hockey Hall of Famer, who electrified fans through the 1960s and 70s, died on Monday at the age of 84. Hull played for the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks before a jump to the Winnipeg Jets of the upstart World Hockey Association in 1972, a move that led to lawsuits but ultimately higher salaries for hockey players.
Kia and Hyundai vehicles sold in Canada do not have the same anti-theft issue as those in the United States because of Canadian regulations, the automakers say.
Ford Motor Co on Monday cut prices of its electric crossover SUV Mustang Mach-E by as much as US$5,900 per vehicle, weeks after rival Tesla Inc slashed prices globally on its electric vehicles by as much as 20 per cent.
Nissan and Renault have agreed to equalize the stakes they hold in each other, both sides said Monday, ironing out a source of conflict in the Japan-French auto alliance.
