Convergence or Divergence?: Decoding the Indo-Pacific Strategies of Canada, Japan, the USA, and Europe

The Indo-Pacific is a critical region, containing over half the world's population, almost two-thirds of global GDP, and seven of the world's largest military forces. In recent years, major actors have formulated Indo-Pacific strategies to serve as guiding principles for their regional engagement. From an early stage, Japan has articulated a vision for a "Free and Open Indo-Pacific," emphasizing principles such as the rule of law, quality infrastructure investment, and maritime stability. In September 2021, the European Union adopted a strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, emphasizing stepped up engagement in priority areas such as sustainable and inclusive prosperity and a green transition. In the United States, the Biden administration released its Indo-Pacific Strategy in February 2022, emphasizing both the importance of the region and mounting challenges, particularly China's pursuit of a "sphere of influence" as it seeks "to become the world's most influential power." Canada is also actively developing an Indo-Pacific strategy to diversify trade and investment, strengthen security cooperation, and boost international assistance.  How should we understand these Indo-Pacific strategies? Are the strategies likely to contribute to tangible changes in foreign policy? What are the common themes, and what are significant areas of disagreement or divergence? How can global institutions complement the national strategies to facilitate cooperation and reduce systemic risks? What are the implications of the war in Ukraine for the Indo-Pacific? A panel of distinguished experts from Canada, Japan, the United States, and Europe shared their insights.  

 

 ---Speaker Bios--- Jonathan T. Fried is a Senior Advisor with Bennett Jones, LLP in Ottawa, the Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington, DC, Senior Associate to the Center for Strategic and International Studies also in Washington, DC, and Advisor to Llewellyn Consulting in London, UK. Prior to his retirement from the Government of Canada in August, 2020, he was Coordinator for International Economic Relations, with a mandate encompassing Canada-Asia and other international trade and economic policy.  He was the Personal Representative of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the G20 from 2017-2020. Mr. Fried was Canada’s Ambassador to the WTO 2012-2017, where he was Chair of the WTO’s General Council (2014) and Chair of the Dispute Settlement Body (2013). Formerly Canada’s Ambassador to Japan; Executive Director for Canada, Ireland and the Caribbean at the IMF; Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister; Senior Assistant Deputy Minister for the Department of Finance and Canada's G7 and G20 Finance Deputy, and earlier Chief Negotiator on China’s WTO accession; and chief counsel for NAFTA. Mr. Fried is a Distinguished Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Foundation and the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Health Standards Organization and the Advisory Boards of the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, the World Trade Board, and the Central and East European Law Institute.  Mr. Fried received his B.A. and LL.B. from the University of Toronto, and LL.M. from Columbia University.  

 

Dr. Akiko Fukushima is a Senior Fellow at the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research, with a Doctoral degree from Osaka University and M.A. from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University. Her carrier includes a Professor at School of Global Studies and Collaboration, Aoyama Gakuin University and Director of Policy Studies at the National Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA).  Concurrently Dr. Fukushima is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Hague Journal of Diplomacy. She has served on the Japanese government committees including the Advisory Council on National Security and Defense Capabilities to the Prime Minister.  Her publications include Japanese Foreign Policy: The Emerging Logic of Multilateralism (1999) by MacMillan, “Japan’s Perspective on Asian Regionalism,” in  Asia’s New Multilateralism (Columbia University Press, 2009),and “Multilateralism Recalibrated,” in Postwar Japan (CSIS 2017). She has contributed articles to journals including “Reshaping the United Nations with Concept of Human Security Version 2.0” Strategic Analysis (October, 2020), “COVID-19 is a human security crisis” at East Asia Forum (April 16th, 2020), and “ From the Asia-Pacific to the Indo-Pacific: Its Motives, Aims and Future,” (CGAI, 2021), “Promises and Pitfalls of Digital Connectivity,” (EUI 2021).

 

Kristi Govella is Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of the Asia Program at The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF). She specializes in the international relations of the Indo-Pacific region, including regional institutional architecture, economic-security linkages, and the governance of the global commons. In addition to her publications in academic journals and edited volumes, Dr. Govella is the co-editor of two books: Linking Trade and Security: Evolving Institutions in Asia, Europe, and the United States (2013) and Responding to a Resurgent Russia: Russian Policy and Responses from the European Union and the United States (2012). She also serves as an adjunct fellow with the East-West Center and Pacific Forum and as co-editor of the journal Asia Policy. Prior to joining GMF, Dr. Govella was an Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University, and an Associate Professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. She has also been a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Tokyo and Waseda University. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.  

 

Nicolas Véron cofounded Bruegel in Brussels in 2002-05, joined the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington DC in 2009, and is currently employed on equal terms by both organizations as a Senior Fellow. His research is primarily about financial systems and financial services policies, with a main geographical focus on Europe. A graduate of France’s Ecole Polytechnique and Ecole des Mines, his earlier experience includes senior positions in the French government and private sector in the 1990s and early 2000s. He is also an independent board member of the global derivatives trade repository arm of DTCC, a financial infrastructure company that operates on a non-profit basis. In September 2012, Bloomberg Markets included Véron in its yearly global “50 Most Influential” list with reference to his early advocacy of European banking union.  

 

As part of her Canadian foreign service career, Deanna Horton spent a total of twelve years in Japan, including as Deputy Head of Mission, and also served as Ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. She was a NAFTA negotiator, followed by two postings in Washington, most recently as Minister (Congressional, Public and Intergovernmental Affairs). As a Munk School Senior Fellow she has led a digital mapping project on Canada’s footprint in Asia https://munkschool.utoronto.ca/canasiafootprint/ and related research on Canadian technology multinationals. Ms. Horton is also affiliated with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, and the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, commenting on economic and trade policy issues with a focus on Asia.  

 

Yves Tiberghien (Ph.D. Stanford University, 2002; Harvard Academy Scholar 2006; Fulbright Scholar 1996) is a Professor of Political Science and Konwakai Chair in Japanese Research at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. He is also Director Emeritus of the Institute of Asian Research, and Director of the Center for Japanese Research.  Yves is Distinguished Fellow at the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada and a Senior Fellow at the University of Alberta’s China Institute. He is an International Steering Committee Member at Pacific Trade and Development Conference (PAFTAD). In November 2017, he was made a Chevalier de l’ordre national du mérite by the French President. In 2014-2016, Yves served as Co-Director of the UBC Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs (MPPGA), which he founded as Chair of the UBC Public Policy Curriculum Committee in 2014.  He is a regular visiting professor at Tokyo University (Graduate School of Public Policy) and at Sciences Po Paris (Paris School of International Affairs). He has held other visiting positions at National Chengchi University (Taiwan), GRIPS (Tokyo), and the Jakarta School of Public Policy (Indonesia).  Yves’ research specializes in comparative political economy and global economic and environmental governance, with an empirical focus on Japan, China, Korea, and Europe.  His books include The East Asian Covid-19 Paradox. August 2021. Elements in Politics and Society in East Asia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108973533, Entrepreneurial States: Reforming Corporate Governance in France, Japan, and Korea (2007, Cornell University Press); L’Asie et le futur du monde (2012, Paris: Science Po Press); and Leadership in Global Institution-Building: Minerva’s Rule (2013, edited volume, Palgrave McMillan). In 2020, he edited an online collection of papers on Japan’s leadership in the Liberal International Order. He has published articles and book chapters on the political economy of Japan and China, global governance, global climate change politics, and the governance of agricultural biotechnology. He is working on two books: Up for Grabs: Disruption, Competition, and the Remaking of the Global Economic Order and Navigating the Age of Disruption: Understanding Canada’s Options in a Shifting Global Order.  Dr. Tiberghien co-founded the Vision 20 initiative in 2015, a new coalition of global scholars and policy-makers aiming at providing a long-term perspective on the challenges of global economic and environmental governance. The V20 held six summits (Hangzhou, 2016, Buenos Aires 2018, Tokyo 2018, and Washington DC, 2017, 2018, 2019.