Canada must put China ‘front and centre’ in Indo-Pacific strategy or it risks irrelevance, experts say
The federal government’s forthcoming Indo-Pacific strategy must explicitly recognize and respond to the security threat China poses to the region, experts say, otherwise Canada risks being regarded as irrelevant in a part of the world that is expected to be a centre of economic growth for decades.
The Indo-Pacific region, which stretches from North America to India’s west coast, is home to 60 per cent of the world’s population, and it accounts for 60 per cent of global gross domestic product. About 60 per cent of world maritime trade passes through its oceans, a third of that through the South China Sea, where Beijing has made sweeping territorial claims.
… Two sources with knowledge of the strategy said the first draft, which was compiled by a team from Global Affairs, made no mention of China.
The strategy should have one goal – Make Communist China a pariah state.
