Question Period Note: Regional Maritime Tensions (East and South China Seas)

Regional tensions between China, its neighbours, and the U.S. over maritime and territorial claims- especially in the South China Sea and the East China Sea- undermine regional peace and security.

• Canada is concerned about China's escalatory and destabilizing actions in the East and South China Seas.
• This includes the militarization of disputed features and the use of naval, coast guard and maritime militia vessels to intimidate and threaten the ships of other states.

• Canada opposes all unilateral actions that escalate tensions and undermine regional stability and the international rules-based order.
• Canada supports lawful commerce, navigation and overflight rights, as well as the sovereign rights and jurisdiction of coastal states in the South China Sea, exercised in accordance with international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
• Since 2016, Canada and its G7 partners have consistently expressed their opposition to unilateral actions that escalate regional tensions and undermine regional stability in the East and South China Seas.

Regional tensions have heightened as China has pursued a more assertive policy to advance its claims in the South China Sea (SCS) and East China Sea (ECS) through repeated entries by Chinese naval, coast guard and militia vessels in disputed waters, including off the coasts of Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam. In March 2021, a large fleet of more than 200 Chinese vessels were anchored around Whitsun Reef in the SCS, prompting protests from the Philippines and Vietnam, which both have claims there, as well as the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and the UK. China has also increased the pace and scale of land reclamation and construction of military facilities on disputed features and artificial islands. These escalatory and destabilizing actions are eroding the rules-based international order. Tensions between the U.S. and China have escalated concurrently, as the U.S. has increased the frequency of its "Freedom of Navigation Operations" (FONOPs) to challenge China's claims. Canada does not conduct FONOPS and, as a general approach, does not take position on the maritime disputes of other states. In July 2021, Canada joined the U.S., Australia, Japan and other partners in issuing a public statement reaffirming the July 2016 judgment by the UNCLOS tribunal on the illegality of certain Chinese claims in the SCS.

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