{"id":78942,"date":"2016-07-22T02:58:12","date_gmt":"2016-07-22T06:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=78942"},"modified":"2016-07-22T02:58:12","modified_gmt":"2016-07-22T06:58:12","slug":"canada-decries-south-china-sea-tensions-says-ongoing-tension-bad-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/07\/22\/canada-decries-south-china-sea-tensions-says-ongoing-tension-bad-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada decries South China Sea tensions, says ongoing tension bad for security"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE<\/a>
FILE PHOTO: Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister St\u00e9phane Dion. (Photo: St\u00e9phane Dion\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

OTTAWA\u2014Canada weighed in Thursday in the ongoing South China Sea dispute, with a thinly-veiled call to China to abide by an international ruling that has angered Beijing.<\/p>\n

While the statement from Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion doesn’t specifically name China, it appears aimed at the country, which is angry after an international panel rejected much of its maritime claim.<\/p>\n

The Hague panel that administers the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea sided last week with the Philippines and rejected much of the legal basis of China’s claim.<\/p>\n

The maritime dispute has implications for Sino-Canada relations at a time when the Trudeau government is seeking to make economic and political inroads with China.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is bound for China later this summer for the G20 leaders’ summit, after having appeared to reboot relations with China last fall during his first meeting with President Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n

But Canada’s recent decision to side with G7 ally Japan on the maritime tensions, as well as disagreements with China over human rights, are complicating those aspirations.<\/p>\n

Dion reiterated Canada’s commitment to \u201cthe maintenance of international law and to an international rules-based order for the oceans and seas\u201d in helping resolve the six-country dispute.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether one agrees or not with the ruling, Canada believes that the parties should comply with it,\u201d Dion said Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are deeply concerned about regional tensions that have been escalating for a number of years and have the potential to undermine peace and stability,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is essential that all states in the region exercise restraint and avoid coercion and actions that will escalate tension.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan insisted that Canada wasn’t taking sides in the dispute.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are international bodies where we can resolve disputes and a decision has been made within the law, and the parties should respect those decisions,\u201d he said in an interview.<\/p>\n

But one international affairs expert sees it differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a message to China without mentioning China\u2014diplomatically worded but unambiguous,\u201d said Fen Hampson, the head of the global security program at the Centre of International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Ont.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government is finding that China is a difficult country to do business with and that relations will not be easy to manage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The South China Sea is one of the world’s busiest trade routes, which is significant for Canada as it tries to deepen its economic footprint in the region through the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership, and other bilateral deals.<\/p>\n

Dion’s statement makes specific reference to China’s provocations in the region such as building artificial islands and landing strips, as well as requiring foreign aircraft flying over dispute waters to identify their presence to Beijing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll claimants must refrain from land reclamation, militarization and other actions that can undermine regional security and stability,\u201d said Dion.<\/p>\n

\u201cActions that could jeopardize freedom of navigation and overflight exercised in accordance with international law, maritime security and international trade must also be avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA\u2014Canada weighed in Thursday in the ongoing South China Sea dispute, with a thinly-veiled call to China to abide by …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":78943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[398,420,5631,11696,343,1039,3370],"class_list":["post-78942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","tag-canada","tag-china","tag-disputed-waters","tag-foreign-affairs-minister-stephane-dion","tag-philippines","tag-south-china-sea","tag-west-philippine-sea","mauthors-mike-blanchfield","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}