Canada's Relations With Malaysia

Do URING THE 1980s a series of parliamentary and official pronouncements emphasized the need for Canada to expand its links with the Asia-Pacific region.' Taking up this theme in a recent review of Canadian policy, Jean McCloskey, currently assistant deputy minister, Asia and Pacific Branch, Department of External Affairs, argues that, Nowhere is the issue of Canadian foreign policy in the twenty-first century more important than with respect to relations with the nations of Asia and the Pacific.'2 More recently, in a speech in Singapore in October 1989 Canadian prime minister, Brian Mulroney, noted that our relationship with the [Asia Pacific] region, including with ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] members is of critical importance to US.3 Given the increasing recognition within Canada of the significance of the Asia-Pacific region in general and of the ASEAN countries-Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand-in particular, acquiring an understanding of Canada's foreign policy towards the countries of ASEAN would seem to be an excellent starting point for assessing how future relations may develop.4

Business · Economic geography · Geography · International trade · Political science · Canadian Policy and Governance