Mélanie Joly pushes LNG links to Japan and South Korea, amid North Korean missiles

OTTAWA-

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said Canada is on its way to becoming a major energy supplier to Japan and South Korea.

During a visit to the two countries this week, Joly said he saw a growing appetite for Canada’s liquefied natural gas beyond an impending megaproject.

A major export terminal is expected to open in 2025 in Kitimat, British Columbia, with Japanese and Korean companies holding a 20% stake.

“We will become a major key energy supplier for them, starting in 2025,” Joly said in an interview Thursday from Seoul.

“There is a lot of interest for all of us to go even further.”

Joly said these types of projects will help Canada strengthen energy security in the region, where China and Russia are increasingly asserting themselves.

“Japan and Korea were already very close to Canada, but it is now more than ever in Canada’s interest that they be best friends,” she said.

“We know there is a lot of instability in the world, and when there is, Canada reaches out to the world to create more stability.

Joly said a series of missiles North Korea launched over Japan this month figured prominently in his talks with local officials and the Canadian Navy.

She visited HMCS Vancouver, which is undertaking exercises to monitor sanctions against North Korea “in view of their reckless actions,” Joly said. This often means watching ships that stop next to each other, to see if cargo or fuel is being transferred.

In September, the Vancouver sailed through the Taiwan Strait alongside a US warship to demonstrate Canada’s position that the area near mainland China is considered international waters.

Joly’s visit also touched on existing work to make more critical Canadian minerals available to Asian companies building electric vehicles and parts.

In Tokyo, she co-initiated formal talks aimed at having Canada and Japan share military intelligence.

Joly’s week-long tour ends on Saturday. She said the intention was to build on close ties with allies ahead of an Indo-Pacific strategy that should outline Ottawa’s approach to China.

“The current focus is on laying the foundations for the strategy,” she said.

Joly has previously said a major Chinese Communist Party summit next week will help inform Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy, which she has promised to release by the end of this year.

Opposition parties have argued the strategy is long overdue, and business groups say they need Ottawa to clarify which regions and industries they want closer ties with, and which countries the Canada deems it more risky.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on October 13, 2022.