Foreign Affairs committee  There are a lot of opportunities for collaboration with Japan and Korea, and they're already starting to go on. We have things to offer to Korea. This goes back to the question of Monsieur Guilbeault. It's not only critical minerals. We are also very strong in artificial intelligence and many other services sectors that we often forget about.

Foreign Affairs committee  There are many examples of this. As we're thinking of engaging more with ASEAN, just to give an example, it's actually very natural to do this right now, because China is getting expensive. Doing assembly in China is not something that a lot of companies are looking at. Automatically, we're already starting to look at Vietnam and maybe Malaysia and other countries.

Foreign Affairs committee  I can be very quick. I think it would be very good to update the Indo-Pacific strategy to reflect the new reality we're facing. Of course, it would have to be very general. Not all of the details have to be presented, but indeed, as Minister Anand has already indicated, we are in a new reality, therefore the Indo-Pacific strategy should be changing.

Foreign Affairs committee  We need to really think about strategic and non-strategic sectors very differently. Non-strategic sectors are where businesses should be able to do as usual, and we should be helping them. In strategic sectors, maybe industrial policy will be a bit more important.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. We're certainly more active in the Indo-Pacific region. That's a really good thing, but we're not the only country that is more active in the Indo-Pacific region. As a result of that, we might be fighting harder against other hard-fighting countries. We have to be cognizant of that.

Foreign Affairs committee  The main issue has been that any kind of market economy can lead to specialization, which can sometimes go a little too far. We used to have a bit more of a stable international order, wherein most countries at most times were hesitant to take advantage of their dominance in a certain sector to pressure other countries geopolitically.

Foreign Affairs committee  That is a great question. First of all, what we need to do is identify in which strategic sectors the choke points are. In reality, there are not thousands of choke points in the global trading system right now. It's much more limited, but we don't always know what they are. We have to identify them.

Foreign Affairs committee  Those are very good questions. First, when I was talking about China as a potential ally, it was in reference to economic security. In many sectors, that doesn't present a major challenge, so continuing to do business with China isn't a bad thing. However, it's important to be careful in certain sectors where China is very dominant and could use coercive tactics.

Foreign Affairs committee  It's up to Canada to work with other countries to make sure it has better legislation to keep forced labour out of global supply chains. At the same time, we need to keep engaging with China in a balanced way, which is not to say that we should let goods made using forced labour into the country.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, absolutely. Thank you very much for your question, Mr. Guilbeault. I agree with my colleague’s comment. Indeed, it is much easier for small and medium-sized businesses to do business in the United States than in Asia. Expanding into Asia entails higher costs for businesses.

Foreign Affairs committee  Is the question for me? I can answer it.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Brunelle‑Duceppe. You're right that doing business with China comes with a lot of challenges. First, as Mr. Guilbeault mentioned, doing business with China opens up opportunities. Yes, being able to import cheaper energy products benefits consumers and the green transition.

Foreign Affairs committee  The low-hanging fruit question is always tricky. If we're looking at what is going on right now, we know there is a desire in the defence industry, for example, to make sure we are less reliant on specific countries to obtain our military products. That is a good area where we could, on both the export side and the import side, ask, “Can we, through collaboration with certain Asian countries, make sure we have more diversified sourcing or exporting of defence products?"

Foreign Affairs committee  Canadian firms are generally ready to internationalize, and they've been doing this very successfully for many years. Of course, there are still lots of hurdles they are facing in all kinds of sectors, either strategic or non-strategic. Canada, for many decades already, has been helping Canadian firms going abroad.

Foreign Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, honourable members, thank you for the invitation to contribute to your review of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy. I will be giving my introductory remarks in English. I would be pleased to answer your questions in French or English. My central message this afternoon is straightforward.