Trudeau puts cash behind Indo-Pacific pledges during visit to Southeast Asia summit

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled a slew of funding announcements in Cambodia on Saturday aimed at deepening economic and academic ties with Southeast Asia, after decades of sporadic engagement with the region.

"This is a generational shift," Trudeau told leaders gathered in Phnom Penh for a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"I am announcing concrete investments that are part of our commitment to this relationship," he said, before listing $333 million in new funding.

He was speaking at an event commemorating Canada's 45 years of relations with ASEAN, which comes as the group negotiates a free-trade agreement with Canada.

The bloc of 10 countries includes some of the world's fastest-growing economies, and the Liberals say they want to shift trade away from China over concerns that span human rights to intellectual property.

"There are no surprises; the cards are on the table and our goal is to be present in the region," Foreign Affairs Minister Mlanie Joly told reporters in French.

Trudeau unveiled funding for closer ties in Southeast Asia, spread over the course of five years.

The largest chunk, $133 million, will involve feminist-focused development aid in ASEAN countries, a quarter of which will be earmarked for Canadian civil-society groups.

Ottawa will also spend $84.3 million for a new Shared Ocean Fund aimed at cracking down on illicit fishing in the region, and $40 million for an engagement fund that will help public servants as well as civil society do research on the Indo-Pacific region.

The Liberals are allocating $24 million for a private-sector centre to inform businesses of opportunities in Asia, and the same amount for the Asia-Pacific Foundation to operate an office on the continent. There is also funding to run educational exchanges and to help ASEAN counties partake in trade-deal negotiations with Canada.

Business group says Canada is lagging on trade

Meanwhile, Trudeau's office said ASEAN granted Canada status as a comprehensive strategic partnership, which is the highest tier of recognition for non-member countries. The U.S. and India were also granted this status Saturday, placing them alongside previously recognized partners Australia and China.

ASEAN as a bloc already makes up Canada's sixth largest trading partner.

The majority of the population in ASEAN member countries is under 30, a demographic shift that's shaping economic opportunities in the region. A rising middle class is boosting countries such as Indonesia and Thailand, while the prospect of cheap labour has companies relocating jobs from China to places like Vietnam and the Philippines.

As for Cambodia, Canada is one of its top trading partners, with bilateral trade amounting to $1.82 billion last year. Some 98 per cent of that involved goods Cambodia sold to Canada, such as garments and footwear, in exchange for just $38.5 million in Canadian goods like vehicle parts and artificial fur.

Trade between the two countries has ballooned despite a limited diplomatic presence. In 2009, the government of then prime minister Stephen Harper closed Canada's embassy in Phnom Penh, downgrading it to a consular office. At the time, Ottawa cited a "serious examination of Canada's current diplomatic representation abroad," but many chalked the move up to budget cuts.

Trudeau met Saturday with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen but made no mention of re-opening an embassy, and Joly was vague on the idea.

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Minister Joly warns Canadians doing business in China: 'You need to be clear-eyed'

2 years ago

Duration 5:11

"I expect that China will react very negatively, but in fact, we have no choice," said former Canadian ambassador to China Guy Saint-Jacques of Canada's evolving policy on China, as outlined in broad strokes by Foreign Affairs Minister Mlanie Joly Wednesday in Toronto.

"Our goal is to be more present in the region," she said in English, noting the Liberals have opened embassies in Africa after their Conservative predecessors had closed them.

Wayne Farmer, head of the Canada-ASEAN Business Council, said Ottawa is falling behind the U.S., Australia, Britain and France in establishing strong trade ties with the region.

"It is the farthest part of the world from Canada; it's farther than Africa, it's farther than North Asia and farther than Europe. It's not that surprising that we would be latecomers," said Farmer.

"But in the world of today with communication and transportation as they are, that's also not as much of an excuse."

Vaccine politics still a factor, expert says

Jeffrey Reeves, research director of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, said the West also hurt its reputation by doing little to allow developing countries to produce COVID-19 vaccines, such as through waiving patents.

"China provided most of Asia with vaccines while the global West hoarded supplies and prevented technology transfers in overseas production," he noted at a Nov. 1 panel.

"Those sort of things don't honestly go unnoticed and they are not easily forgotten."

Stephanie Martel, a Queen's University international-relations professor and leading expert on ASEAN, says Canada could instead play a role in building consensus on various issues.

She said Canada can build relationships with Southeast Asian countries by focusing on their individual trajectories, instead of painting them as under the thumb of China or the United States.

Martel says that comes down to "recognizing and respecting the fact that a lot of these countries do not fit neatly in these democratic versus authoritarian categories."