Canada-China Relations committee  In a nutshell, it's a great plan. We want more of it to be implemented.

Canada-China Relations committee  It's a combination of the two. On the security front, certainly Canada could do more to commit on the defence side. On the economic side, again, tapping into Canada's natural resource assets and making those available as an integral part of enhancing global supply chain resiliency is a key role that Canada could play.

Canada-China Relations committee  Thank you for your questions, which I will try to answer, but will have to do so in English, unfortunately. Canada is not unique in its position regarding the Chinese market. The Europeans, as well as the Canadians, are in a similar situation where the goal has traditionally been to have to decouple insofar as to ensure close, strong economic ties with China, whilst keeping China's military threat in check.

Canada-China Relations committee  I think there are two developments that we can see. How will the United States work with its allies and partners in meeting the China challenge, and how will it actually engage with China itself? The bipartisan support from both Democrats and Republicans in seeing the China threat is going to remain unchanged.

Canada-China Relations committee  First of all, we have to define where there are areas of co-operation and coordination. We have to then realize the hard fact that when it comes to economic issues, especially on the trade front, there's going to be competition. There's going to be competition, because the private sector is involved.

Canada-China Relations committee  It's an interesting phenomenon right now. As we look at de-risking from China, China is actually beginning to champion free trade rules. Here we are, based in Washington. The United States is reluctant to sign on to new trade deals, but China is part of some of the biggest, most ambitious trade agreements there are, with the most notable being the CPTPP.

Canada-China Relations committee  Thank you. On the trilateral, we are in a honeymoon period at the moment. Relations between Japan and South Korea had hit an all-time low about two years ago. We've seen a steady recovery. I would argue that it was really South Korean President Yoon's boldness to understand the need for enhanced relations with Japan in particular that has really led to a rapid improvement in relations.

Canada-China Relations committee  May I briefly add something on the increased defence spending by Japan? If this had come out five years ago, there would have been great political opposition within Japan. Japan, as you said, still remains at its heart a pacifist nation. There would have been a great deal of public opposition.

Canada-China Relations committee  Thank you for inviting me to speak today. The United States is now mired in not just one but two theatres of conflict—Ukraine and the Middle East. Washington, however, has not lost and will not lose sight of the third theatre, which is the Indo-Pacific and meeting the China challenge in particular.