Vancouver: UBC Press, 2023. US$27.00, paper; US$38.00, cloth; US$29.00, ebook. ISBN 9780774868600.
Follow the Leader, Lose the Region: Charting a Canadian Strategy for the Asia-Pacific by Jefferey Reeves offers a convincing argument as to why governments in the West, including Canada, fail to understand the Asia-Pacific region. Drawing on extensive primary and secondary Asia-based sources, Reeves shows how Western perceptions of Asia are often biased and contribute to ill-informed policy advice by analysts who have misinterpreted regional dynamics.
Reeves argues that a Western “parochial view” of Asia has led to a “false starting point” for policy planners as it contributes to an “ossification of dialogue” that cannot escape frameworks built around unclear thinking. Using sharp and pointed language, Reeves criticizes Canada and the West for advocating policy that minimizes the views of countries that are less inclined to support Western primacy.
Reeves lays out a roadmap for “omnidirectional diplomacy” that will allow Canada to build a more robust, inclusive, and effective foreign policy. This calls for: (1) strategic non-alignment that avoids confrontational language; (2) Canada improving its competency/capacity for understanding Asia; and (3) knowledge-driven tactics to advance national interest in Asia. For Reeves, this approach will lead to greater strategic integration through regional institutions and expand the policy debate beyond a mainstream narrative often dominated by China.
The book is divided into six chapters that draw on the author’s extensive experience working in both academic and policy spaces, especially his former position as vice president of research and strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. He begins by arguing that Western views of Asia are generally self-perceptions that are ideologically projected on to the region by liberal democracies. For Reeves, this misreading is both “normatively arrogant and strategically inept” (9) while perpetuating a postcolonial interpretation of Asia that will prove damaging for Canadian foreign policy planners as they look to strengthen the country’s presence in the region.
To build his argument, Reeves draws on critical theory, critical security studies, and postcolonial literature to capture Asia’s ideological divergence and colonial structures. This approach allows Reeves to frame the nomenclature of the “free and open” Indo-Pacific, states of similar “values” or “like-mindedness,” and the international rules-based order (RBO) as contentious language that is fundamentally Western and better understood as strategic policy. For Reeves, this is concerning given that the terms are broad, ill-defined, not uniformly accepted in Asia, and rooted in Western notions of democracy.
In chapter 2, Reeves introduces examples from a series of Asian countries to reiterate his point that Western policy in Asia cannot effectively address the concerns of the region and balance complex state interests. As the chapter makes clear, while many Asian states generally support the RBO and the Indo-Pacific construct they also vocally reject normative Western assumptions. This fact is often minimized in Canadian policy circles, thereby downplaying the importance of local voices that challenge Western values.
Reeves expands the argument in chapters 3 and 4 with empirical evidence from non-English sources. The material points to a striking disconnect and divergence in values/interest between Asian states and the West, as well as between Western states themselves, including the United States and Australia. The strength of these chapters lies in the author’s use of regional source material that challenges the assumption that the US is a benevolent actor in Asia. Reeves also considers local narratives on the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula, and the Taiwan Strait, and the problem with Western mechanisms such as AUKUS dismissing regional concerns.
Reeves then points to exaggerated threat narratives as a common tool of US foreign policy and the risk that this can lead to greater insecurity. Reeves also correctly observes that the South China Sea has intentionally become the focal point for Western policy planner thinking about China. Meanwhile, Southeast Asia security commentary focuses on crisis management and dialogue, and not militarization, as often positioned in the West. According to Reeves, the perception that Canada and Western leadership can manage Chinese “assertion” as the stabilizing factor is a misread of what regional voices are saying.
In chapter 5, Reeves considers China again, drawing extensively on localized source material presenting domestic polling numbers that show strong support for the Chinese Communist Party. He points to the implications for Canada in minimizing the importance of these domestic viewpoints which can lead to greater mistrust and possible conflict. The chapter then introduces three important case studies as it tackles the complex issues of Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and China’s foreign policy preferences through domestic narratives which differ greatly from the West.
The final chapter considers the Asia Pacific’s endogenous institutions and regional networks as it looks for creative approaches in building strategic and sustainable cooperation. Reeves brings in multiple themes such as the role of elites, the limits to Canadian foreign policy, a need to identify Canadian national interests in Asia, and Canada’s role in supporting regional stability through both bilateral and multilateral engagement.
The book succeeds in building an important case and offering direction for Canadian strategists looking to “conceptualize and operationalize” an effective Asia policy. Yet while Reeves’ argument is both important and convincing, it is a work of very high-level analysis. An expanded discussion on why the region needs Canada at the local level and what Ottawa can bring to the table would have been helpful.
Another challenge is that many governments in Asia support notions of the RBO, economic liberalism, and the Indo-Pacific construct while calling on Canada to play a more robust strategic role. Reeves acknowledges this concern and is somewhat able to counter with his omnidirectional diplomacy argument as a solution for non-ideological, non-aligned, and independent policy.
But the question remains as to how exactly a neutral policy could be implemented given Canada’s electorate has largely demanded that their politicians advocate liberal democratic values abroad. In the end, Reeves presents a strong case for re-evaluating Canada’s strategy in Asia and the perils of ignoring complex regional views. The book is an important work not to be dismissed.
Robert J. Hanlon
Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops