Rethinking Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy

• In Event: Canadian Foreign Policy, Border Security, and the Environment

Abstract

In November 2022, Canada released its long awaited ‘Indo-Pacific Strategy’ (IPS), a 26-page document that outlined the Canadian government’s vision for what it called a ‘once in a generation’ opportunity to build a meaningful foreign policy that can guide the country into the future. However, while Canada’s IPS appears a robust and dynamic rethinking of policy, the document offcially labels China a ‘disruptive power’. This language not only serves a internal strategic purpose of appeasing Canada’s Western allies but it also speaks to a domestic audience of ideologically driven politicians, journalists, pundits and activists who see China as an existential threat to the international rules-based order. And so the media often applies a one-sided narrative built on divisive rhetoric reminiscent of Cold War aggression. In fact, mainstream media now regularly amplifies voices of anti-China ideologues while simultaniously calling for greater securitization of the state. We argue in the paper that Canada needs to re-think and re-calibrate its foreign policy and face the reality that China is an emerging superpower that needs to be dealt with through a human security and pragmatic framework. This framework tries to see what these countries have in common and and not what divides them while working within a collaborative strategy. The strategy of anatgonism and name calling clearly will not work and Canada and its allies need to know that this IPS framework will only increase the divisions and constitute a failure of foreign policy and bi and multilateral relations. If Canada wants to suceed in the IPS, then there will have to be some changes in thinking and policy.

Authors

• Kenneth Christie, Royal Roads University

• Robert Hanlon