Rethinking Canada’s security interests in Southeast Asia: from “Asia-Pacific” to “Indo-Pacific”

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Canada must decide what type of multilateral actor it wants to be in its security relations in Southeast Asia, especially in light of the recent release of Ottawa’s official “Indo-Pacific Strategy” (IPS) in late 2022. There is growing disconnect between Canada’s national self-perception as an established middle-power and successful promoter of development and democracy in the region, and how Canada is increasingly regarded in Southeast Asia: as a mostly peripheral aide-de-camp of Anglo-American global hegemony. In this context, a strong case can be made for Canada’s need to chart a path in Southeast Asian security relations that is distinct from American interests, and that promotes meaningful engagement with ASEAN and its member states along a variety of registers, scales, and tracks. Importantly, Canada’s reputational decline in Southeast Asia is emblematic of a larger problem, which is its diminishing regional role and stature as a credible and honest broker of multilateralism in support of a rules based international order. It remains to be seen whether or not Canada’s IPS can adequately rise to these ongoing challenges.