The points I was trying to make were, first, that by Canadian standards militaries play a disproportionate role in politics in many of the Asian states we interact with. You can see this in Thailand, for example. You can certainly see it in China and elsewhere. Second, I would suggest that this part of the world is militarizing very rapidly, compared with Europe or South America. Indeed, I would suggest that a naval arms race is unfolding. Maritime power is increasingly the coin of the realm in the Indo-Pacific region, and our navy is very professional but very small. It can have only a tiny influence. I'm suggesting it's an available tool and should be utilized in orchestration with other departments in Canada to maximize the telegraphing to the region that we are committed to the region. It's a highly militarized region; it's a region with high levels of defence expenditure; and it's a region that is bracing itself for a military contest. It behooves us, I think, to position ourselves with nations like Australia, Japan, and South Korea to utilize our military professionalism to advance our national agenda in an appropriate manner.
