The US and its Arctic allies are concerned about the increased cooperation between China and Russia in the region.
According to a top US military officer, the joint activities of the two countries in the previously ice-locked Arctic are something that the US is keeping an eye on. Driven by mutual interests in resource extraction, shipping routes, and geopolitical positioning China and Russia have been trying to strengthen their strategic foothold in the region for years. Besides, climate change, leading to the melting of ice, is making shipping routes through the Arctic increasingly possible.
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US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Brown had recently said, “It (the increased cooperation) is something we all need to be paying attention to and to understand what they are doing together, and is it for some type of positive benefit to the collective whole, or is that something they are doing to challenge other nations and other interests?”
Brown said the US remains focused on "deterring any malign activities including Russia’s modernisation of capabilities that pose risks to the allied territories and interests, China’s growing influence in the region and the increasing cooperation between the two countries."
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China's interest in the Arctic involves the Polar Silk Road, part of its broader Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), aimed at developing shipping routes to improve trade connectivity between Asia and Europe. While Russia's interest would be more militarily inclined as over half of the Arctic coastlines belong to Russia, allowing Moscow to set up military bases and airstrips that counter NATO influences.
