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54 Opinion
bne July 2019
Nuclear icebreaker "Yamal" on its way to the North Pole. ALACO DISPATCHES:
US trails Russia and China in Arctic race
Rebecca Emerick and Yigal Chazan of Alaco
As global warming breaks the icy cover of the Arctic, Russia is increasingly collaborating with China in
a race to exploit the region’s economic potential, tapping its considerable gas reserves and developing a new shipping channel that could slash the costs of trade between Europe and Asia.
The growing strategic partnership has alarmed the US
which has questioned China’s economic interests and called out Russia’s “aggressive” actions in the Arctic. Concern has apparently stemmed from Russia’s growing military presence in the region and China’s use of financial muscle to exert economic influence on the littoral states.
The Arctic alliance between Moscow and Beijing is mutually beneficial with energy-hungry China eager to bolster its
gas supplies and use Russia’s Northern Sea Route (NSR),
a shipping channel running along the Siberian coast, cutting travel times between China and northern Europe
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by up to 40%. Russia, meanwhile, needs Chinese finance and technical expertise since international sanctions have squeezed western sources.
On the face of it, the relationship seems equal. But in reality Russia, given its straitened circumstances, is more beholden to China, which has used the dynamic to its advantage.
With the Arctic possessing about a fifth of the world’s untapped fossil fuel reserves, Beijing has supported gas
“With the Arctic possessing about
a fifth of the world’s untapped fossil fuel reserves, Beijing has supported gas extraction projects in northern Siberia, becoming the main foreign investor”