The Liberal government is deliberately keeping its China policy obscure, but with Beijing flexing its muscles in the Indo-Pacific it is important to take concrete action to strengthen defence in the region, say experts.
Terry Russell, a senior scholar at the Asian Studies Centre at the University of Manitoba, says Canada lacks a clear China policy and is being “deliberately obscure” on the issue out of a desire to maintain business relationships with Beijing. However, the federal government is aware of the public’s disapproval of the regime’s many human rights violations, he said.
“The government of Justin Trudeau is aware that most Canadians are very suspicious of China and not supportive of leaning further, deepening engagement with China, without some sort of corresponding attention to human rights and rules-based order in the international sphere,” Russell told The Epoch Times….