As this country seeks to diversify trade partners amid strained relations with the United States, a former top Canadian soldier is warning the Canadian government against pivoting to China at the expense of Ottawa’s relationship with Washington.
“Geography matters,” said retired Gen. Wayne Eyre, former chief of the defence staff, said in an interview on CTV’s Question Period airing Sunday. “We are neighbours and we share a continent and that’s not going away.”
The former chief of the defence staff said despite the current political challenges with the U.S., he is a firm believer the two nations must continue to co-operate in the military realm.
“The ability to pick up a phone and have a sensitive conversation, even if political relations are up and down, I believe is in the national interest, and so investing in relationships over the long term is a good investment,” Eyre said.
“We need to be very wary about pivoting to China at the expense of the U.S.,” Eyre added.
The former commander’s comments follow the prime minister’s visit to Beijing earlier this year, during which Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping “forged” a new bilateral strategic partnership.
The agreement saw a softening in tit-for-tat tariffs but also outlined Carney’s goal of increasing exports to China by 50 per cent by the end of the decade.
Eyre says the government is “absolutely right” to start diversifying Canada’s network of friends, partners and allies in light of the rapidly changing global security environment, but he also highlighted Beijing’s close relationship with Moscow as a particular area of concern.
“We’ve seen them drawn even closer together,” Eyre told host Vassy Kapelos. “China is underpinning Russian war crimes in Ukraine through many dual-use technologies, even some single use technologies.”
“We need to be wary that that relationship continues to strengthen, including in the Arctic, which was traditionally a wedge issue between the two,” he also said.
In the weeks leading up to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi announced the Russia-China strategic partnership had “no limits.”
Just last month, the two leaders met in Beijing, and Putin declared that relations between the two countries had “reached a truly unprecedented level.” Xi stated bilateral relations had “reached a new milestone.”
“We just need to go into any future relationship with eyes wide open,” Eyre said. “Trading is one thing, but China is very good at integrating its elements of national power, its diplomacy, its information, its military and its economic tools to achieve national objectives.”
In his wide-ranging conversation, the former top military commander also outlined the priority areas of investment as the Canadian government seeks to re-arm and revitalize the armed forces.
You can watch former chief of the defence staff retired Gen. Wayne Eyre’s full interview on CTV Question Period Sunday at 11 a.m. ET.
