Four Chinese warships were spotted off the coast of Alaska last weekend. According to the US coast guard, the ships were in the Bering Sea around 124 miles from the Aleutian Islands. They were inside America’s exclusive economic zone, which extends to 200 miles, but within international waters. ‘We met presence with presence to ensure there were no disruptions to US interests,’ said a coastguard commander, as he monitored their progress. The Chinese were within their rights to be there, but the uneasy standoff was another example of Beijing boosting its presence around the Arctic.
One of Russia’s leading Arctic scientists, was arrested and charged with treason
This time they were alone, but the Chinese navy has been increasingly coordinating their activities in the region with Russia as the two countries develop a new front in their ‘no limits’ partnership – one that is rattling Western military planners. There are fears that Moscow and Beijing are intent on carving up the riches of the Arctic and controlling new transport routes emerging as a result of global warming. This is ‘changing the security landscape’, according to Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg.
Last month, Moscow and Beijing reiterated their plans to ‘coordinate and jointly work on developing the Northern Sea Route (NSR) as a new major transport corridor between Asia and Europe,’ as Aleksey Chekunkov, Russia’s minister for the development of the Russian Far East and Arctic, put it during a conference in St Petersburg. ‘We are strong in the Arctic. We will always keep the Arctic safe. We will not let any opposing or unlawful forces militarise the Arctic or jeopardise its security,’ he added in comments carried approvingly by China’s state media.
It is easy to see the economic attraction to China of the NSR across the Arctic, which could cut travel time between Asia and Europe to around 23 days, compared to 40 or so for goods sent via the Suez Canal. Then there are the immense resources believed to lie beneath the ice, ranging from oil and gas to critical minerals, which would serve Beijing’s purpose of diversifying its energy supplies. For Russia, the principal attraction of the China partnership lies in Beijing’s cash to help extract this wealth and develop the route.
On top of this economic cooperation lie tighter security ties, which are seeing a sharply stepped up military presence in the region. Last August, during joint exercises, 11 Chinese and Russian warships sailed from the Sea of Japan through the Bering Strait into the Pacific Ocean. They passed the Aleutian Islands, conducting what the Russian news agency Interfax called ‘joint anti-submarine and anti-aircraft exercises.’
While the US is spending heavily to upgrade military facilities in Alaska, where many aging bases date back to World War II, Russia has more military bases in the Arctic Circle than all of Nato combined. In spite of the war in Ukraine, Moscow has continued to boost its presence – enhancing the Murmansk-based Northern Fleet, nuclear submarines, radar stations, airfields, and missile facilities along the Kola Peninsula, close to Nato allies Finland, Sweden, and Norway.
China does not have territory in the Arctic but has declared itself a ‘near-Arctic state’, with an interest in developing shipping in the region, carrying out scientific research and exploiting the region’s oil, gas, minerals, fisheries and other natural resources. It describes the Northern Sea Route as a ‘Polar Silk Road’, placing its Arctic ambitions under the umbrella of its Belt and Road Initiative, which has grown into an amorphous catch-all for the Communist Party’s global ambitions – an effort to remake the world order through the aggressive use of economic power. However, Arctic countries other than Russia has become increasingly wary of entering into large-scale projects with Beijing.
Vessels can only navigate it when accompanied by a Russian icebreaker, which comes at a high price
While the Arctic demonstrates the growing ambitions of the Russia-China partnership, it also points to its strains, with Russia determined to maintain control. The NSR tracks close to the Russian coastline for most of its route, and at present vessels can only navigate it when accompanied by a Russian icebreaker, which comes at a high price. The Arctic Council, comprising the eight Arctic-rim states of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the US, only granted China observer status in 2013 – and back then Russia was reluctant to have Beijing on board.
Four years ago, Valery Mitko, one of Russia’s leading Arctic scientists, was arrested and charged with treason for handing to Beijing information on Arctic research and submarine sensor technology. Neither side commented on the arrest at the time – and have continued to maintain that silence. Soon after, Moscow abruptly abandoned plans to jointly develop with Beijing a new generation of nuclear-powered icebreakers (the technology of which is similar in many respects to nuclear powered icebreakers). Beijing is now rumoured to be close to unveiling its own indigenous version – which no doubt will be closely scrutinised for evidence of plundered tech.
The balance and dynamic of the Russia-China relationship has changed markedly since then, thanks largely to the Ukraine War and Moscow’s heavy dependence on Beijing to underwrite its economy and war machine. The relationship is one of convenience, driven by self-interest, a mutual loathing of the West, and with China now as the dominant partner, but that makes it no less dangerous.
At a Nato summit in Washington DC earlier this month, alliance leaders accused Beijing of being a ‘decisive enabler’ of Russia’s war against Ukraine. ‘Large-scale support for Russia’s defence industrial base…increases the threat Russia poses to its neighbours and to Euro-Atlantic security’, they said in a joint statement. Their alarm was further raised by Beijing choosing this month to send troops to Russian ally Belarus to take part in what was described as 11-days of ‘anti-terror training’ close to the Polish border. Their concerns will only have been raised further by the troubling developments around the Arctic’s icy waters.
Comments