Mr. Chair and members of the committee, we're honoured to appear before you.
As stated, I'm Major-General Greg Smith, director general, international security policy. I'm joined by my colleague, Brigadier-General Cayle Oberwarth, director general of operations for the strategic joint staff.
Thank you for this opportunity to support the committee's discussion on the Indo-Pacific strategy and to provide an overview of the progress made by the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces in the implementation of our initiatives and our activities in support of the Indo-Pacific strategy.
Among the five interconnected pillars of the Indo-Pacific strategy, the Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces are primarily focused on the peace, resilience and security pillar. But we also have an important supporting role in the active and engaged partner pillar.
It is important to remember that prior to the release of the Indo-Pacific strategy, Canada already had a significant regional presence, including an over 70-year commitment to the United Nations Command in the Republic of Korea, regular ship and aircraft deployments in support of forward presence operations and sanctions monitoring, and participation in major regional exercises and capacity-building activities through our military training co-operation program.
Through new and significant investments announced under the Indo-Pacific strategy, the defence team has moved forward to broaden and deepen its presence in the region and position Canada as a positive contributor to peace and stability in the region. In fact, we have aggressively leaned forward on our five lines of effort to implement the strategy.
The Canadian Armed Forces has augmented Canada's naval presence in the Indo-Pacific, moving from two to three warships per year. Earlier this year, His Majesty's Canadian ship Montréal deployed from Canadian Forces Base Halifax to conduct operations in the Indian and Pacific oceans. His Majesty's Canadian ships Ottawa and Vancouver are currently in the region working with our allies and partners. Their contributions in upholding the rules-based international order have been well noted across the region, specifically when HMCS Montréal and Ottawa conducted three Taiwan Strait transits in company with the U.S. Navy.
Two, we have increased and diversified our regional engagements by participating in new multilateral exercises, with the Royal Canadian Air Force joining for the first time Exercise Mobility Guardian across multiple locations in the Indo-Pacific this summer. As well, the Royal Canadian Navy participated in its first exercise Sama Sama, led by the U.S. and the Philippine Navy.
We have expanded our capacity-building efforts through new programs and activities, with discussions underway to identify other relevant opportunities with regional partners.
Notably, the Canadian Armed Forces co‑hosted a “women, peace and security” conference with the Malaysian armed forces, one of the focus areas for capacity-building and security cooperation efforts. As well, the Royal Canadian Navy supported capacity-building efforts during SEACAT, the Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training multilateral exercise led by Singapore. These activities are important in building interoperability and trust with regional partners.
Four, the defence team established and staffed the four defence policy adviser positions in the region, with candidates already at post and integrated with our missions abroad. These new positions, located in Tokyo, Singapore, Canberra and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., will have an immediate impact on deepening key partnerships and raising Canada's visibility in regional discussions on sensitive defence and security issues.
Finally, the defence team co‑hosted with U.S. counterparts a cyber-defence cooperation workshop with the Japanese Self-Defence Forces, focused on cyber-incident response and workforce development, to improve their ability to detect and respond to threats. These activities strengthen overall resilience and preparedness, protecting against coercive tactics and preventing theft of valuable intellectual property.
In the second year of the Indo-Pacific strategy, the defence team will maintain this level of engagement, including the deployment of three warships, while leveraging the relationships we've strengthened during the first year to deliver an expanded range of capacity-building and security co-operation programs.
As we deliver on our initiatives, the defence team is concurrently supporting the Indo-Pacific strategy's objective to be an active and engaged partner in the region by focusing our activities, engagements and port visits to ASEAN countries, including the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam.
These efforts, among those across the whole of government, have contributed to tangible outcomes in support of our ASEAN-related objectives, including invitations to observe, for the first time, ASEAN defence ministers' meeting plus, or ADMM-plus, and experts' working group meetings and activities in 2023. In concrete terms, these activities directly support our strategic partnership with ASEAN and complement whole-of-government efforts to strengthen our presence in the region and increase our co-operation with ASEAN partners to deliver on the defence and security objectives outlined in our Indo-Pacific strategy—
