China’s Communist Party continues to expand its influence in the Arctic region sparking U.S. concern.
China and Russia have been stepping up their activities in the resource-rich Arctic region, sparking growing concern in the United States. One expert said the Chinese Communist Party is the number one threat to the United States in the Arctic. U.S. State Department officials say the State Department is taking the Communist Party’s Arctic ambitions seriously.
The Arctic is rich in natural resources, is strategically important and has the potential to become a major shipping lane as the ice continues to melt.
Communist China is the number one threat to the United States in the Arctic
U.S. Coast Guard Assistant Commandant John Mauger told Fox News that Communist China sees the Arctic as a huge economic opportunity because of its rich energy and mineral deposits and the potential to shorten global shipping routes.
“Of course, we’ve been watching how the Chinese Communist Party and other countries view the Arctic region. We’ve seen the Chinese Communist Party’s articles on the Polar Silk Road. Their white paper on Arctic strategy, published in 2018, links the Polar Silk Road to their ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative,” Mogg said, “And we know what they’re doing in terms of corporate investment to strengthen their position and thus gain access to those resources.”
Communist China is increasing its influence in a number of Arctic countries in a number of ways. It is trying to increase its activities in the Arctic Council. China is an observer on the Arctic Council. The CCP is also working on trade agreements with Arctic countries and trying to buy or build companies and infrastructure in those countries.
Nick Solheim, founder of the Wallace Institute for Arctic Security, told Fox News that “China [the Chinese Communist Party] is the number one threat to the United States in the Arctic.
The Arctic Council is composed of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States.
The most recent attempted plunder by the Chinese Communist Party was a failed attempt by a Communist state-owned mining company to buy a Canadian gold mine. The Canadian government halted the attempt, citing national security concerns, according to the Financial Post.
In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party has also tried to build an airport on the Danish island of Greenland, but the U.S. stopped it. In the last year, the Chinese Communist Party managed to successfully buy majority control of a Norwegian airline.
A Fox reporter asked a State Department official if he agreed with the Communist Party’s claim to be a “near-Arctic country,” and the official said that there are only Arctic and non-Arctic countries. That means there is no such thing as a third category of countries.
U.S. Increasingly Concerned About Communist Party’s Arctic Ambitions
The State Department official also said the U.S. is “increasingly concerned” about Chinese Communist attempts to invest in the Arctic and said allies should “carefully review” Communist investments that could give Beijing access to strategic infrastructure.
“The Arctic region benefits from strong governance based on international law to manage marine resources and resolve issues of national jurisdiction.” The State Department official said, “These existing rules, combined with the cooperative efforts of the Arctic Council, put the eight Arctic states at the forefront of governance of the region.”
“We call on China (CCP) to act in accordance with these established rules and institutions,” the official added, adding that “China (CCP) is seeking greater influence in the Arctic, using its investments in scientific research and critical infrastructure to secure its foothold in the region and expand its soft power. The (U.S.) State Department takes China’s (CCP) ambitions in the Arctic seriously.”
U.S. to Increase Deployment of Resources in the Arctic
Solheim, founder of the Wallace Institute for Arctic Security Studies, told Fox News that the situation does not look good for the U.S. with its lack of icebreakers in the Arctic. The Coast Guard’s only heavy icebreaker, the Polar Star, is 40 years old. The Coast Guard also has a medium-sized icebreaker Healy (Healy).
Meanwhile, the United States’ main geopolitical rivals, Russia, have spent years expanding their presence in the Arctic. Russia has dozens of icebreakers. China has three medium-sized icebreakers and is seeking more, including a heavy icebreaker.
Solheim supports the Trump administration’s hard-line stance in the Arctic, including a Trump memo issued in 2020 that called for strengthening U.S. icebreaking capabilities and hinted at possible increased U.S. militarization in the Arctic. Solheim said he is concerned that the Biden administration will abandon that focus and focus primarily on climate change. But so far, he has not seen that change.
U.S. Coast Guard Assistant Commandant Mogg told Fox News that the United States is making some progress in deploying resources in the Arctic to ensure it can continue to be a major player in the Arctic. Perhaps most notably, the Coast Guard will receive a new heavy icebreaker in 2024 and fully fund the acquisition of at least one additional icebreaker.
Mogg said these supplies will increase the U.S. “ability to operate year-round in the polar regions, something we only have the ‘Polar Star’ capable of doing now. The ship spent 82 days in the Arctic last winter.
Mogg added that when the U.S. acquires another icebreaker of this class, it will more than double its ability to operate in the Arctic.
The U.S. is also cooperating with other Arctic nations, including Coast Guard exercises.
The U.S. Coast Guard, in cooperation with Canada, will send the Healy icebreaker to Greenland through the Northwest Passage this summer. The Northwest Passage is a sea route between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans that passes through Canada’s northern islands. Last year, the Coast Guard sent a pair of non-icebreakers into the Atlantic Arctic for joint exercises with France, Denmark and Canada.
The State Department expects that deploying the Healy in the Arctic this summer will provide the U.S. with opportunities for diplomatic expansion, State Department officials said. The United States highly values the opportunity to coordinate and train with Arctic allies and partners.
Solheim also praised the “strengthened U.S. relationship with Greenland” as “really important.
But Western officials remain concerned about the increased influence of China and Russia in these high latitudes.
“China (Communist China) has a voracious appetite and will stop at nothing to feed itself, and the Arctic is one of the last remaining areas and regions.” Canadian Deputy Defense Minister Jody Thomas was quoted in Defense News as saying.
“No one is going to invest that much money to build a military capability in the Arctic without reason, without intent or without purpose,” Thomas said of Russia, “and we shouldn’t be naive about that.”
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