#Chinese military presence in canada free#

Russia needs Chinese investment to extract the natural resources under the permafrost and monetize its long Arctic coast, especially after the United States imposed sanctions over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.Īnd so, Russia’s onetime wariness of competition in the Arctic has given way to a new openness with China.

It is an increasingly vital relationship for both countries. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average, with the average extent of Arctic sea ice reaching a new low this April, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.įinally, and perhaps most importantly, China is partnering with the leading expansionist power in the region: Russia, which sees the Arctic as key to its future wealth and power. Though the North Sea Route is still a very tricky passage to navigate, climate change is opening up that shipping lane for longer stretches of the year. Another Chinese company proposed to build a port for Sweden, but backed out amid fraying diplomatic relations between the two countries. A Chinese company proposed to partner with Greenland in rebuilding airports, prompting Denmark to step in and underwrite the project instead.

#Chinese military presence in canada free#

China struck a free trade deal with Iceland six years ago, giving tiny Iceland a giant market for one of its main exports: fish. And its telecommunications giant is eager to partner with a Finnish company that wants to lay a huge new undersea internet cable to connect Northern Europe with Asia. It is prospecting for minerals in Greenland. It is drilling for gas in Russian waters alongside the Russian company Gazprom. It has invested billions into extracting energy from beneath the permafrost on the Yamal Peninsula in northern Russia. Wealthy and ambitious, it can afford to be.Ĭhina is trying to pour money into nearly every Arctic country. But Beijing has much to gain, strategically, in a warming Arctic, and it is focused on the long game.