Prospects for Canada's Participation in Multilateral Alliances in the Indo-Pacific Region

Over the past few years, Canada has sought to expand its military-political and economic ties with the countries of the Indo-Pacific region (IPR) and to play a more active role there. As a means of achieving this goal, Canadian policymakers and experts are considering their country's participation in the various types of alliances and partnerships that have emerged in the IPR in recent years. Canada's greatest focus is on the AUKUS military-technology partnership, formed in 2021 by Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Canada wants to participate in the second pillar of this partnership, the development of new military technologies. Canada is much less interested in participating in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad). Canada's interest in participating in the Quad has especially waned since the creation of the AUKUS. Canada also wants to participate in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), but in this case the initiative comes from Canadian big business rather than the government of J. Trudeau. Canada's participation in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance holds some promise. The possible admission of Japan to this alliance will transform it from an Anglo-Saxon to a Pacific alliance. With the beginning of D. Trump's second presidential term, Canada's participation in multilateral structures in the IPR has been seriously hampered. On the one hand, with the sharp deterioration of relations between the USA and Canada, membership in U.S.-centered regional alliances has lost its former appeal for Canada. On the other hand, the Trump administration would also not consider Canada a desirable partner in such regional alliances. Admitting Canada into such structures contradicts Trump's own logic that Canada should become the 51st American state. Another factor that makes it difficult for Canada to participate in multilateral structures in the IPR is the crisis in its relations with India, which is a member of many such structures and wields enormous influence in the region.

Canada and the Indo-Pacific, Canada-USA relations, AUKUS, Quad, the Five Eyes alliance