Foreign affairs minister plans Asia travel before tabling new China strategy
CTV
Canada's foreign affairs minister says she plans to travel to Asia and elsewhere for some first-hand research before she releases the government's much-anticipated new policy on China.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly also says she wants to strengthen a Canada-led international convention that condemns arbitrary detention -- or hostage diplomacy -- so that it has more teeth.
Joly told The Canadian Press that although the simmering crisis in eastern Europe with Russian troops massed on Ukrainian borders is all-consuming, she is actively working to deliver on a key marching order given her by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: to create a comprehensive new Indo-Pacific strategy.
"I'll be going into the Indo-Pacific region soon. So that also will be part of the engagement before tabling the Indo-Pacific strategy," Joly said in an interview this week before wrapping up a visit to Germany and France.
"The geopolitical situation in Europe is taking a lot of my time but I'm very much aware that the Indo-Pacific strategy will be a key mark of our government."
