Russia and China want to open the Arctic Silk Road

Against the background of global warming, Russia and China have decided to create an “Arctic silk road”. The West has always been suspicious of China’s presence in the polar latitudes, and with the beginning of the special operation in Ukraine, this suspicion has only intensified, but Moscow and Beijing do not intend to abandon their plans, The Economist says.

According to the publication, the opening of the Arctic Silk Road will allow cargo to be delivered from Shanghai to Hamburg in 18 days instead of 35 days along the route through the Suez Canal.

At the same time, it is noted that Western countries are increasingly hostile to the presence of China in the Arctic. The main problem for them, of course, is Russia, so they are afraid that China’s growing economic influence in the region may open doors to it in the field of security.

Chinese companies are aware of the advantages of cooperating with the Russian Federation, which controls, as indicated in the article, about half of the Arctic coastline and the lion’s share of Arctic hydrocarbon reserves.

At the same time, the authors of the article note that Russia is interested in creating new ports and opening oil and gas projects. And if earlier Moscow, as suggested in the article, was afraid to involve Beijing in the development of the Arctic coast, at the moment the participation of Chinese companies is welcome.

“Russia is very interested… So we can say that China has found itself in a very advantageous position,” Kjell Stockvik from the Far North Logistics Center in Kirkenes (Norway) told the publication.

In conclusion, the authors of the article report that during the recent visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to China, both sides agreed to “promote the Arctic route as an important international transport corridor” and urge their enterprises to “strengthen cooperation in increasing traffic volumes along the Arctic route and creating logistics infrastructure.”