Canada joins US, Japan in Asian warship drills

YOKOSUKA: Canadian frigate HMCS Calgary is chasing Japanese and US subs in western Pacific drills as Canada joins other maritime nations in seeking to contain Chinese influence in the Indo-pacific. “The expectation is to see one, if not two ships, on a year-round basis doing a variety of things with a variety of partners in the region,” Commander Blair Saltel, the captain of Calgary, said in Yokosuka, Japan. His ship, docked at the naval base near Tokyo with Canadian navy ship the Asterix, left Canada in July on a mission that has taken it through the East China Sea, to Australia and into the contested South China Sea.