By South China Morning Post | Created at 2024-10-17 09:11:59 | Updated at 2024-10-17 11:29:48
2 hours ago
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stamped his mark at last week’s Southeast Asian summit by highlighting his country’s commitment to the region even as Ottawa continues to manage the fallout in its relations with India and China.
The challenge for Canada to underscore its commitment is to deliver on initiatives that are priorities for regional countries, such as maritime security and infrastructure development, observers say.
Stephen Nagy, a professor of politics and international studies at Tokyo’s International Christian University, said Trudeau’s visit was aimed at showing Canada was serious about engaging with Southeast Asia in line with its Indo-Pacific Strategy released in 2022, which listed Asean as a key part of Ottawa’s focus.
“Unfortunately, the Trudeau government continues to misread how Asean and the larger region view Canada ... It overly focuses on trade rather than key issues the region is focused on, such as infrastructure and security,” Nagy said.
Wrapping up his visit to Laos last week where he attended the Asean or Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, Trudeau said Canada needed to keep up its presence in Southeast Asia if it sought to benefit from the region’s economic boom.
“That’s really a big piece of the challenge, making sure that we are showing up,” Trudeau said at a news conference last Friday after attending the annual meeting for a third consecutive time.
