Canada Eyes Deeper Security Ties With Japan, Other Indo-Pacific “Middle Powers”

Ottawa and Tokyo find themselves on the same page amid intensifying great-power rivalry, with Canada’s defense minister saying his country aims to boost military and defense-industrial ties with like-minded Indo-Pacific partners as regional security tensions surge, Gabriel Dominguez reported for The Japan Times.

Canada is systematically reaching out to countries like Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand. (Photo: PM’s Office of Japan X) 

“We are systematically reaching out to countries like Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand; we are consolidating those relationships and making our own presence better felt in the region,” David McGuinty, who accompanied Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on a two-day Tokyo visit this past weekend, told The Japan Times on Saturday.

“We are a Pacific nation. We are a maritime nation, and so we’re carefully tracking what’s going on in the region,” the defense minister said in an exclusive interview as Ottawa looks to expand its Indo-Pacific footprint.

“We are fully aware of who’s doing what here, how it’s being done and where the points of tension are between whom … so for us this is simply a next step in trying to be of assistance in the Indo-Pacific region” to better handle security challenges, he added in a veiled reference to China’s growing assertiveness.