BURSTA heap of gold-hued epaulettes, glistening military medals and Cadillac Escalades donning diplomatic plates could be seen at the Empress Hotel for a gathering of defence leaders representing countries from across the Indo-Pacific and NATO partners.
Starting Monday, Aug. 31, to Wednesday, a who’s who of world military leaders from 29 countries congregated in Victoria for the 28th annual Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defense (CHODs) conference, co-hosted by Canada and the U.S.
“Our geography may be different, our capabilities may be different, but the responsibility is shared. To protect our people, to defend our sovereignty, to preserve peace, and to be ready when that peace is tested,” said Minister of National Defence David McGuinty at the opening ceremony.
Along with close military allies like France and Japan, it’s impossible not to notice the more contentious delegates.
In the crowds were also delegations present from China – headed by Gen. Yang Zhibin who heads the Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army, which is responsible for controversial military exercises around Taiwan as recently as January – and the delegation from the U.S. headed by Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, the highest ranking military man in the U.S. and top military advisor to the president and the Department of War.
“As we look ahead, our cooperation in the region should continue to deepen integration, squeezing every ounce of training value out of every single engagement, every exercise, every event, every flight, every sortie, every ship at sea. Every moment that we spend together, we should be seeking to increase our collective security,” said Caine.
“And we should expect and measure the output of faster information exchange, strong logistics, increased maritime awareness to protect our fisheries, more resilient networks, and greater readiness across our forces. And we must, my friends, continue to invest in resilience, not just in platforms and systems, but in the infrastructure, supply chains, data, and institutions that allow us to endure disruption and recover quickly,” he added.
Throughout the conference, delegates attended workshops and discussions on AI, leadership and multilateral cooperation, while also holding a number of meetings behind closed doors – all with the goal of building relationships to strengthen security in the Indo-Pacific where Canada and many of our partnered, and adversarial, militaries are regularly operating amid border skirmishes in Southeast Asia and tensions between NATO and NATO allies, China and their allies, North Korea, and Iran.
“What happens in the Indo-Pacific is not contained in the region. It has impact all around the globe. Its importance cannot be understated,” said Chief of Defence Staff for Canada Gen. Jennie Carignan. “And we are all witnesses to the increasingly intense geopolitical, economic, technological and, of course, military transformation of the region.”
With the dynamics of geopolitics changing on a day-to-day basis, “uncertainty” is a word that’s often used when describing the Indo-Pacific, the conference theme of “strengthening collective security” hopes to strengthen mutual understanding, cooperation and interoperability throughout the region.