Although Canada’s friends in the region – Australia, Japan and the United States – do not claim any part of the South China Sea, they are becoming concerned about Chinese belligerence. In addition to confronting Vietnamese and Philippine ships, Chinese ships and aircraft have harassed U.S. vessels operating in the South China Sea. The United States, Japan and Australia are thus becoming concerned that China seeks to limit their access to its claimed waters. Problematically, these claimed waters amount to the entire littoral area from the Yellow Sea to the waters off Indonesia, bounded on the east by the islands of Japan and the Philippines.
The Harper government has made a clear decision to engage East Asian states, particularly China, as it attempts to capitalize on the second half of the “Asian Century.” Ottawa has made no secret of its preference for focusing this engagement on economic issues as part of a strategy to diversify away from U.S. markets.
Regional tensions threaten Ottawa’s preference. Canada’s diplomatic track record in the region, such as it exists, has previously been centred on supporting maritime security initiatives in Southeast Asia. It has a history of diplomatic activism in this policy realm...
