Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, vows more resources to assert Arctic sovereignty

 2009-08-20 04:14:43  

    OTTAWA, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) --

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Wednesday vowed to provide more military resources to strengthen Arctic sovereignty, as he observed the country's most extensive annual military exercise ongoing in the region.

    Harper boarded the naval frigate HMCS Toronto, before he went under the sea onboard the submarine HMCS Corner Brook, which conducted operations for about 30 minutes underwater and resurfaced.

    About 700 troops from the Army, Navy and Air Force participated in the annual "Operation Nanook," which is happening near Baffin Island in eastern Arctic and is aimed at "building Canada's capability to assert Canadian sovereignty and respond to emergencies throughout the Arctic," according to a government press release.

    "This operation is the most ambitious ever of Canada's annual sovereignty exercises," Harper told the soldiers on board HMCS Toronto.

    "We understand the first principle of Arctic sovereignty is use it or lose it ... Operation Nanook shows that Canada has both the operational capacity and the resolve necessary to assert our Arctic sovereignty over land, sea and air," he said.

    Canada's northern borders have been probed by air and sea and that sovereignty protection "has never been so important," Harper said, hinting the country's recent disputes with other polar powers as Russia.

    Harper is on a five-day tour of the country's Arctic territories which is packed with highlight events such as cabinet meetings and important announcements. Since coming into office in 2006, he has declared protecting Canada's Arctic sovereignty as one of his government's foremost priorities and has been traveling to the north annually.

    As climate change makes it more possible for accessing the rich natural resources and opening new trade routes in the Arctic, scrambling over the territory there has been heating up among the polar powers such as Canada, Russia, the United States and others.

    Recently Canada has been keeping a close eye on Russian expeditions to the Arctic, and has taken issue with Russian jets flying near its Arctic airspace. 

Editor: Mu Xuequan