My Take | Faithful Canada to join US against China
- Even without a personal stake in the Asia-Pacific, Ottawa will still play ‘follow the leader’ in Washington’s campaign to contain Beijing
While big European countries are having serious second thoughts about joining the US economic war against China, America’s English-speaking allies are falling in line. Having kept a low profile since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Canada is the latest to take a sharp turn in vocally joining the US campaign of China containment.
On Sunday, Ottawa published its new Indo-Pacific strategy and declared China “an increasingly disruptive global power”, exactly the same phrase recently used by Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly. A good part of the strategy means boosting Canada’s military presence and cybersecurity in the Asia-Pacific region.
It’s an interesting choice of phrase. So while China is a “disruptive global power”, Canada, a North American country, is going halfway around the world to Asia to confront China in its own backyard. “Disruptive” obviously is a relative term.
The blueprint aims to deepen ties with the region of 40 countries that is the key growth engine of the world economy, accounting for almost US$40 trillion in economic activity. However, China is mentioned more than 50 times in the document.
It’s not clear how Canada can benefit from Asia’s economic growth and security order while taking on and containing the region’s No 1 economy. That rather defies elementary economic logic. If the United States-led containment warfare – which Ottawa has now so enthusiastically joined – is successful, not only will the region become less secure and economically vibrant, but also may become the site of origin for the third world war. Most countries in the region have no interest in being dragged into this great-power rivalry. Perhaps Canada should consult them first before sabre-rattling its military and cyber hardware in the neighbourhood of other people.
When the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau first came to power, it wanted to diversify its economy with China because of its excessive reliance on the US. Now, it doesn’t think unrestricted trade with China is such a good idea. That’s perfectly reasonable. A country is free to trade with whomever it wants.
In terms of bilateral trade today, China merely accounts for about 7 per cent of the total, compared with 68 per cent with the US. The latest security commitment by Ottawa will mean even less trade with China and Canada will become even more dependent on the US. If so, does Canada really have a dog in the fight over in the Pacific and Indian oceans?
