Canada’s federal government is Ottawa is spending $2.3 billion to enhance military and cyber security in Asia and has promised to counter what it calls a “disruptive China.”
Known as the government’s “Indo-Pacific Strategy,” the plan is detailed in a 26-page document. It says that Canada will tighten foreign investment rules to protect intellectual property and prevent Chinese companies from buying critical minerals in Canada.
Ottawa aims to improve its political and trade ties in Asia, a fast-growing region with almost $50 trillion in economic activity. But the focus of the plan is squarely on China.
In Beijing, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Canada's new strategy is “full of ideological bias, exaggerating and speculating the so-called China threat,” according to a report by the Reuters News Agency.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government wants to diversify trade and lessen this country’s reliance on the U.S. Official data for September shows two-way trade with China made up less than 7% of Canada’s total, compared with 68% for America.
Canada's renewed focus on Asia also comes as lawmakers in Washington, D.C. have become critical of North American free trade in recent years.
