Yuen Pau Woo: What should Canada’s top foreign policy priority be in 2013?

By:
Yuen Pau Woo
/
7 January, 2013
By: Yuen Pau Woo
President and CEO, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada

“An Asia Strategy for Canada”, announced by the Prime Minister.
Most of the elements for an Asia strategy are already in place, including an excellent statement on Canadian aspirations in a speech by Foreign Minister John Baird in September 2012. The next step is for the PM to “own” this file and to signal the priority that his government is giving to Canada-Asia relations. He can do so by giving a major speech on why Asia matters for Canada, and how the government intends to significantly strengthen economic, political, security, and people-to-people ties with Asian countries and with the region as a whole. Some have called for an Australian-style “white paper” on Asia, but I think that is unnecessary given the time and expense of the Australian effort, which does not seem to have produced any new ideas or political momentum.”

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