Introduction to China’s Arctic Engagement

Abstract

Although the People’s Republic of China (hereafter China) lacks territory and waters above the Arctic Circle (ca. 66°33′ N), it has become an increasingly influential actor in Arctic affairs during the past decade. In 2007, China started to take part in the work of the Arctic Council, the key intergovernmental forum in the region, and in 2013, its observer application was accepted. In June 2017, the Polar Silk Road (a series of planned Arctic shipping routes) was officially added to President Xi Jinping’s flagship project, the Belt and Road Initiative (bri). In January 2018, the Chinese government published its long-awaited first Arctic strategy. According to the strategy, China is a “near-Arctic state” that respects the sovereign rights of the eight Arctic states (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States) but has legitimate rights in the region as well. Furthermore, Chinese scholars conduct polar research onboard icebreaker research vessels MV Xuelong and MV Xuelong 2 – the latter, delivered in 2019, being the first domestically-built icebreaker in China – and Chinese corporations have become partners in various economic projects in the Arctic, especially in Russia’s Siberia, where massive projects of liquefied natural gas take place. The development of infrastructure along the Polar Silk Road is also of interest to Chinese investors. Lastly, China’s policies indirectly influence the future of the Arctic, given the state’s status as an emerging great power and the biggest carbon dioxide emitter in the world. Without a doubt, both factors are important: first, the Arctic is not untouched by international economic and geopolitical fluctuations, and second, climate change proceeds faster in polar regions than elsewhere on the globe. Due to China’s autocratic governance system and the poor track record of Chinese companies in other parts of the world, among other issues, China’s growing footprint in the Arctic region has caused concerns and speculations amongst the regional actors. Although Beijing has stressed that it has no military intentions in the Arctic, the country’s growing maritime power and its rising presence in other oceans, including the Indian and Pacific, has led some scholars to question the motives of Chinese engagement in the region. Accordingly, they view China’s increasing involvement in the Arctic in unfavorable and hostile terms, and they interpret Chinese actions in the region predominantly in security and military terms. Critics have pointed to the potential for