Comunidad del pacífico en perspectiva - Volumen 2

THE MMN 1HRUST OF CANADA" RELAUONS WITH ••• ty of our economies in certain sectors. It is interesting to note that wen before Canada was represented anywhere eIse in the world, outside of London and París, trade offices had been esta– blished in Sydney and Melbourne. The Sydney office goes back to 1894. Yokohama and Shanghai came much later: in 1904 and 1907 respectively. The first Canadían trade office in a Latin Ame– rican country bordering on the Pacific goes back to 1904 also; in Mexico City. . That Australia should be the site of our first trade office in the Pacific area is not surprising. Down to 1939, Canadian exports to Australia were almost invariably ahead of our exports to Ja– pan or China. If exports to New Zealand are added to the Aus– tralian total at the time, Japan fans wen behind. Canadian ex– ports to Australia and New Zealand, in contrast to those to Ja– pan, have always had a fairly heavy industrial .component and this is particuIarly true today. Trade thus provided the first spark to our approach to the Pa– cHic and this is still true. Currently, it is in the economic area that the Pacific region looms largest for Canada: ei ther trade and investments in the case of our relations with the developed coun– tries; aid and trade with respect to the developing countries. 2. Political Outlook of the Pacific This should not be taken to mean that polítical relations are unimportant. To the contrary, they are generally good all around and as a result tend to be taken for granted. Cultural relations are growing as more and more Canadian universities begin to sp~cialíze in Pacific Rim studies, whether concerned with the Far East, Latin America 01' Australia and New Zealand. The Government of Canada undertook a comprehensive review of its foreign policy in the early 1970's. Because of its importan– ce, the Pacific region received partictIlar attentión. On thepoliti– cal side, sorne of the conclusions reached by the Government in that review are noteworthy and form the basis for Canada's gene– ral approach to the region today. . 91