US Warns of Growing Russia–China Cooperation in Arctic

A general view of snowcapped mountains and the Arctic Ocean on the coast of Svalbard near Longyearbyen, Norway, on April 5, 2023. Lisi Niesner/Reuters

Michael Sfraga, the first U.S. ambassador-at-large for Arctic affairs, said in an interview published on Nov. 1 that there have been “concerning signals” regarding Russian and Chinese military cooperation in the Arctic region.

“The fact that they are working together in the Arctic has our attention,” Sfraga, who was sworn in last month, told Reuters in a telephone interview from Alaska. “We are being both vigilant and diligent about this. We’re watching very closely this evolution of their activity.

“It raises our radar, literally and figuratively.”

Last month, China’s coast guard entered the Arctic for the first time to join Russian ships on patrol. In July, Russian and Chinese bomber planes ran a joint exercise off the coast of Alaska.

Sfraga noted that these exercises took place in international waters in accordance with international law. Still, the proximity of those bomber planes to Alaska had raised security concerns in the United States.

“We do need to think about security, heighten our own alliances, our own mutual defences,” Sfraga said. “Alaska, the North American Arctic, is NATO’s western flank and so we need to think about the Arctic that way.”

Also in July, the Pentagon unveiled its new Arctic plan for countering the Russia–China partnership.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been vocal about its Arctic ambitions, calling China a “near-Arctic“ state and announcing plans for a ”Polar Silk Road” trade route to add to its global Belt and Road Initiative.

China does not border the Arctic Ocean. Only five nations’ coastlines border the Arctic Ocean, and three more hold territories within the Arctic Circle. The littoral Arctic states are Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia, and the United States, colloquially known as the Arctic Five. The others are Finland, Iceland, and Sweden. Still, the CCP has invested in research and mineral extraction in the area, which lawmakers believe is meant to bolster the Chinese military.

The area is believed to be rich in resources, including critical minerals, 13 percent of the planet’s undiscovered oil, and 30 percent of its undiscovered natural gas reserves, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

“The Arctic is strategically vital to U.S. security,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said during a July press briefing announcing the new Arctic plan.

The updated plan includes modernizing the North American Aerospace Defense Command, carrying out regular cold weather training and drills with allies, and investing in new systems.

Hicks confirmed that Chinese research in the Arctic is believed to have military applications and may raise the need to counter it.

“It is imperative that the joint force is equipped and trained with what they need to succeed in the Arctic,” she said in July.

Some of China’s research centers lie within the borders of NATO ally countries.

In October, a bipartisan panel of lawmakers wrote to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, highlighting the CCP’s expansion in the Arctic and requesting a briefing.

They noted that the first Chinese Arctic research station was opened in Svalbard, Norway, in 2004 and is used by groups designated by the Pentagon as Chinese military-controlled companies.

The lawmakers quoted Data Abyss founder LJ Eads in the letter, who found that the research projects enhanced military capabilities, “particularly in areas such as missile guidance, over-the-horizon radar detection, satellite communications, space object tracking, early warning systems, electronic warfare, submarine detection, and strategic communication and control in polar regions.”

China also partnered with NATO member Iceland and has been collecting data through the China–Iceland Arctic Science Observatory since 2013. According to the lawmakers’ letter, the parties agreed to make data collected through their collaboration public, but the data has never been released. They expressed concern that it is instead being used to improve the accuracy of Chinese military radar, surveillance, and tracking.

Andrew Thornebrooke, Dorothy Li, and Reuters contributed to this report.