Description
This paper examines Canada’s attempts to coordinate an Indo-Pacific policy and long-standing regional security relations, most particularly with the United States and Australia. Canada’s past differentiation of security and economic approaches has become increasingly hard to sustain with China’s aggressive regional policy, use of coercive diplomacy, and allegations of interference in Canadian domestic politics. However, full participation in a US-led regional strategy is limited by alleged governmental involvement by a key US collaborator, India, in the assassination of a Sikh leader within Canada. Canada has increasingly participated in ad hoc regional security initiatives and the 2022 Indo-Pacific strategy reflects growing interest in the region and increased expectations from Canada’s allies that it will participate in regional governance more fully. Canada needs to decide how to balance its competing regional interests in the context of these changing ally expectations and challenges to its sovereignty by both China and India. The paper will therefore consider the developing security architecture in the Indo-Pacific as a series of opportunities for Canada to participate, or not, as part of its evolving regional posture.
