German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius invited NATO partner Canada to enter into a joint partnership with Norway to protect infrastructure in the far north.
“We will begin a trilateral strategic maritime partnership focused on the security of sea lines of communication across the North Atlantic and the Arctic,” Pistorius said on Friday in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, in a meeting with his counterpart Bill Blair. The initiative could serve as an umbrella for joint activities.
Blair said the Canadian Arctic was exposed to new and growing threats. Canada has noticed that Russia and China are positioning themselves there, he said.
“With climate change, much of the region is becoming much more accessible,” Blair said. “We could have counted on ice to help defend the continent, but climate change challenges that assumption… We know we need to be stronger and more persistently present in the region.”
The Canadian government adopted new defense policy guidelines in April. In it, the NATO member states that the most urgent task is to ensure the protection of its own sovereignty in the Arctic, where Russia has the strongest global military presence of all states.
The considerations are based on the assumption that, in the event of a military conflict with Russia in Europe, there will also be a test of strength in the strategically important Arctic.
Climate change and the challenges posed by autocratic systems – such as China – are also security policy challenges for which responses are being prepared. Canada intends to acquire additional reconnaissance capabilities and be better equipped on land and at sea.
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