Does Canada have genuine security interests in the Asia Pacific region?

James Boutilier, Asia Pacific Policy Advisor, Maritime Forces Pacific Headquarters
Does Canada have genuine security interests in the Asia Pacific region? The answer is emphatically, “yes.”

While the shift in the global centre of economic gravity to the Asia Pacific is widely recognized in Canada, the security implications of that transition are less frequently discussed.. China is the principal architect of the new security landscape. Dependent on the untrammelled movement of exports and energy by sea, China, like India, has expanded her navy dramatically. Thus, we have an unprecedented situation on our hands; three great maritime polities – India, China, and Japan – arrayed across Asia at a time when the Indian and Pacific Oceans are fraught with disputes and a naval arms race is, arguably, underway.

There is another great navy, the United States Navy, and Washington is committed to allocating American naval assets to the Asia Pacific region asymmetrically in view of uncertainties about China’s rise. Of course, Sino-American tensions are only one element in the regional security calculus. The region is haunted by history and tensions exist between the great powers as well as on the Korean peninsula where the ambitions of the reclusive, nuclear-armed North Korea, constitute a major threat to global security.

It is important to note that these traditional security concerns are matched by an equally impressive array of non-traditional security concerns: piracy, drug trafficking, the illegal movement of people and weapons, illegal fishing, and smuggling, all of which have maritime dimensions.

What does all this mean for Canada? Does Canada have genuine security interests in the Asia Pacific region? The answer is emphatically, “yes.” With the end of the combat phase in Afghanistan, the government has acknowledged the importance of enhancing security relations with key regional nations. There is, for example, a longstanding relationship between the Canadian and South Korean militaries which derives from Canada’s involvement in the Korean War and contemporary concerns about security on the Korean peninsula. Canada also has very close defence ties with Australia and New Zealand and continues to build its relations with nations like Japan and Singapore. Furthermore, Canada is cognizant of the implications of America’s renewed commitment to the region, particularly in an age of austerity when a premium is placed on cooperative efforts.

The Asia Pacific region is a dynamic, even volatile, region. The Royal Canadian Navy – ably supported by the army and air force – is one of the critical vehicles by which Canada, through naval diplomacy and appropriate contributions to regional security, can telegraph its national and naval resolve in this quintessentially maritime region.