Conférence donnée en anglais 

Southeast Asia potentially plays a key role as Canada seeks to diversify its economic ties and mitigate political risk, particularly as its relationships with China and India grow increasingly strained. Towards that end, Canada’s new Indo-Pacific strategy recognizes the centrality of Southeast Asia to the Indo-Pacific region and identifies ways to build on existing bilateral and multilateral relationships. Those have been generally well-received by ASEAN partners, but Canada has much ground to make up after years of perceived underinvestment. The challenge is compounded by reputational issues that stem from Canada’s perception as a “fair weather” friend in the region and imperfect communication of its value-based approach to foreign policy, as well as perceived misalignment between Canada’s objectives and the region’s interests. The first year of the IPS brought some notable breakthroughs, but key areas of the strategy remain ambiguous and call for decisive action that the increasingly tight fiscal climate makes difficult.  

Bio

Kai Ostwald is an associate professor in the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia, as well as director of UBC’s Institute of Asian Research and associate editor of Pacific Affairs. Much of his work focuses on the political economy of Southeast Asia. He also regularly works with IGOs and governments, and currently leads an IDRC project to support democratization in Myanmar.  

Un événement en partenariat avec le CÉTASE