An aerial photo shows China’s efforts to fill in Mischief Reef to create land in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
I was speaking to a leading academic about Canada’s efforts to engage Asian countries when the topic of “track II diplomacy” came up. The term describes informal contacts between people representing different countries in the academic and other unofficial fields.
The use of unofficial channels for presenting ideas has a long history in Metro Vancouver. It is logical, given the city is not the seat of either a federal or provincial government, yet carries significant clout as Canada’s Asia-Pacific Gateway.
UBC’s Institute of Asian Research is where many of these dialogues take place. Earlier this month, the latest such example took place when Antonio Carpio, senior associate justice of the Philippine Supreme Court, came to the institute to speak about the sovereignty dispute over portions of the South China Sea.