Beyond possible sovereignty disputes resulting from melting Arctic ice, very little is said or written about the maritime security implications of climate change. What does climate change mean for Canadian maritime security, and how can Canada adequately prepare to ensure continued safe and secure use of the world’s oceans in an era of climate change? Climate change is relevant to maritime security through two chief dimensions. First, navies will more frequently be tasked to deliver humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in the wake of more intense natural disasters. Second, increasing disorder on land will ‘slop over’ into the world’s oceans, threatening the safety of maritime commerce. Canada has stakes in both of these dimensions, and so there is great impetus for preparedness. The recommended model for preparedness sees Canada’s navy adopting a more varied fleet structure, one better suited for constabulary and diplomatic functions as opposed to traditional military functions.

The research conducted for this master’s thesis determined that the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) current participation in military operations other than war (MOOTW) does not make significant contributions to its ability to develop its capability to conduct a large-scale war. Research was performed on the PLA’s MOOTW missions from 2008 in the areas of humanitarian aid and disaster response (HA/DR), noncombatant evacuation operations (NEO), and counterpiracy. General trends indicated that the PLA’s participation in these operations improved basic military capabilities that are fundamental to performing advanced tactics, but did not directly contribute to its ability to dominate air, land, and sea domains. Research also concluded that China is extremely concerned about how the international community views its role as a responsible stakeholder as an emerging global power. Consequently, the U.S. should be concerned with China’s growing capability to project goodwill as a result of its rapid military modernization. Besides the obvious military competition presented by the PLA’s modernization efforts, the U.S. should share an equal, if not greater concern for the resultant global political competition from China. This research develops a military cooperation framework based on the comparison of relative political goals and political interests between two nations. When applied to Sino-U.S. relations, it presents a spectrum of options available to U.S. decision makers, but suggests that U.S. should only participate in military cooperation with the PLA if there are relative political advantages to the U.S. Finally, it warns against decisions made out of the convenience of short-term interest alignment that do not contribute to solutions for achieving long term political goals.