Canada fails to meet East Asian potential

[unhappycamper]

http://atimes.com/atimes/World/WOR-02-220914.html



Canada fails to meet East Asian potential
By Adam P MacDonald
Sep 22, '14

Canada resides within a unique geographic axis. It shares the North American continent with the global super power, the United States, and borders the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans connecting them to two of the world's most important regions- Western Europe and East Asia.

The increasing accessibility, resource potential and outstanding legal disputes over maritime exclusion zones of the Arctic, furthermore, has opened up yet another front of strategic interest for Ottawa. Canada, thus, is pulled in many directions geopolitically.

Much of its economic and political focus is on the maintenance of bilateral relations with Washington. defense priorities largely concern continental security including: monitoring sea and air traffic coming towards and within North America; conducting surveillance and establishing a military presence in the Arctic; and combating drug smuggling in the Caribbean.

Canada, also, has a long track record of participating in various international security matters on shores far away from home. These have largely been in conjunction with its major allies - the United States and NATO - evident most recently in its 10-year military engagement in Afghanistan.