So close and yet so far: The myths of China-Russia cooperation in the Arctic

Nasiffik - centre for foreign & security policy invites to a public lecture with visiting scholar Marc Lanteigne.

Since China and Russia jointly declared a ‘Polar Silk Road’ in 2017, concerns have been raised across the Arctic that the two powers would begin to cooperate more closely in northern military and strategic matters, and begin to overtly balance against Western and NATO interests there. Although China has joined Russia in criticizing the expansion of NATO in the Arctic, and both powers have stepped up bilateral economic and security cooperation, predictions of an imminent ‘Arctic alliance’ against the West are very premature.

Beyond mutual opposition to the US and its Northern European allies, the number of Arctic policy differences between China and Russia is large and growing, especially as Beijing looks beyond Russia in developing its polar interests, and the future of the Putin regime is hazy at best. Beijing has been concerned about how the Russian invasion of Ukraine has undermined Chinese Arctic policies, while the possible weakening of the Arctic Council would also possibly block Chinese interests in the far north. It is therefore in the interests of the West to examine China and Russia as distinct Arctic challenges, rather than as an alliance-in-waiting.

Marc Lanteigne is a professor of Political Science at UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, an Adjunct Lecturer at Ilisimatusarfik, and the editor of the Arctic news blog Over the Circle.