The Role of Canada

Canada's interest in ocean affairs world-wide is obvious: depending on how one does computations, Canada is either the largest or second largest coastal state in the world. It is unthinkable that Canadians would not have a keen interest in any area of ocean development. But Canadian foreign policy has stressed cooperation with neighbours for many decades now, and it is therefore natural that this cooperation should be manifested in ocean affairs. Indeed, until quite recently, Canada had an international aid organisation devoted entirely to the seas.

The foundation for Canadian participation in the South China Sea process is simply that Canada has maintained a steady dialogue and exchange with governmental and non-governmental ocean experts in the Asia - Pacific There are no signs that these contacts are lessening: to the contrary. As Canada's looks increasingly to the Asia Pacific, it is expected that these ties, and similar cooperative ventures, will come to mark increasingly dominant aspects of Canada's foreign policy relationships.

Finally, Canada's role as a neutral in topics such as the South China Sea conundrum should not be forgotten. While countries like Australia, Japan, Russia, the United States, and others might be expected to have played the role enjoyed by Canada, for a number of reasons they are effectively barred form doing so. The reasons for this are obvious, but it should not be thought that these countries have no role to play in the resolution of the South China Sea problem in the future.