China is pushing its ambitious global trade infrastructure program to the Arctic, yesterday outlining its vision for a “Polar Silk Road” for ships as it seeks greater access to the strategically vital region.
The Arctic is geographically far from China’s borders, but with large oil and gas deposits and potential shipping lanes has become more strategically important for the Asian giant.
Beijing presented its plans in its first Arctic white paper, which marks the first time it has transparently outlined how it sees its role in the region.
Photo: AP
Among the white paper’s agenda items are expanding Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) signature Belt and Road Initiative northward.
The US$1 trillion infrastructure program is billed as a modern revival of the ancient Silk Road that once carried fabrics, spices and a wealth of other goods between Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
The project has spurred interest and anxiety in many countries, with some seeing it as an example of Chinese expansionism.
Earlier this winter, the first train ran from Finland to China, establishing a new rail cargo route to Nordic countries.
Now China wants to build a polar “silk road as a major strategic cooperative initiative,” Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kong Xuanyou (孔鉉佑) said at a news conference in Beijing.
Kong denied that China had large-scale ambitions for gas extraction.
Instead, the white paper trumps up “freedom of navigation,” a term more commonly used by the US to contest China’s territorial claims on artificial islands Beijing has built in the South China Sea.
All countries’ “rights to use the Arctic shipping routes should be ensured,” the white paper says.
“China hopes to work with all parties to build a ‘Polar Silk Road’ through developing the Arctic shipping routes,” the white paper says.
China and Russia have begun discussions on the issue, Kong said.
The policy encourages Chinese companies to build infrastructure in the region and conduct commercial trial voyages for sea routes.
The white paper makes the case for China’s role in the region, building on its coining of the term “near Arctic state” last decade, said Anne-Marie Brady, an expert in Chinese and polar politics at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
“Initially there was some resistance to China’s activities in the Arctic, but China’s been working hard to build up support for its position. The white paper shows how confident China is now,” Brady said, adding that the country is now accepted as “a polar stakeholder.”
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