Seminar on East Sea opens in Canada

Ottawa (VNA) - The Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute and Philippine Embassy in Canada co-organised a seminar on the East Sea, discussing ways to keep the waters free, open and developed and to ensure the rule of law.

Jonathan Miller, Director of the institute’s foreign affairs, national defence and national security programme, said the discussion touched upon not only legal matters but also food security, biodiversity, and an energy transport route through the East Sea.

Undersecretary of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs Ma Theresa P. Lazaro lauded Canada’s attention to the ASEAN region and the East Sea issue and affirmed the Philippines’s readiness to work closely with Canada and its partners in maintaining a peaceful, stable and more developed region.

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency on the sidelines of the event, Randolph Mank, a three-time former Canadian ambassador in Asia and President of MankGlobal Inc., assessed that Canada will expand its presence in Southeast Asia, with Vietnam considered an important partner and a potential technological production hub given the two nations’ growing trade ties.

In November 2022, Canada issued an Indo-Pacific Strategy which highlights the country’s efforts toward the diversification of diplomatic relations, promotion of rule-based regional institutions, and pushing back against any unilateral actions in the East Sea./.