My Take | Canadian Senate lost at South China Sea
Senate motion censuring China for its behaviour in troubled waters may have finally carried the day, but events have overtaken Beijing’s relationship with Manila
China furious after Canada’s Senate condemns South China Sea activity
It’s worth considering the key personalities involved. The two-year-old motion was sponsored by Conservative Party senator Thanh Hai Ngo. The anti-communist senator was born in Vietnam and had worked as an officer in both the military and the foreign affairs department under the South Vietnamese government. After the fall of Saigon, he escaped to Canada.
However, the motion has been held up for almost two years by a coalition of Liberal Party and independent senators, who were led by Yuen Pau Woo.
The Singaporean-Canadian senator was a former head of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, a think tank that advocates closer ties with China and other countries in the region. He used his first speech in the Senate 18 months ago to argue against the motion.
The motion itself warns against “the escalating and hostile behaviour” exhibited by China in the South China Sea” and urges all parties in the region to uphold the rights of freedom of navigation under international law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.