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Warm Russian ties are key to China’s Arctic aspirations: report
- However, US think tank says closer China-Russia relations will also create uncertainties in the region
- Arctic routes could cut transport costs and risks, report says
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China’s influence in, and access to, the Arctic will increase over the coming decade if Beijing fosters closer ties with Moscow, according to a new research report by the US think tank Rand Corporation.
However, this closer relationship would create uncertainties in the Arctic, said the report, which was released on Wednesday.
Cooperation between China and Russia has deepened over the past decade, with the two nations signing several commercial and shipping agreements along the Northern Sea Route.
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The Northern Sea Route is a shipping lane between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, which runs from Murmansk on the Barents Sea, along the Russian Arctic coast past Siberia, through the Bering Strait and along Russia’s far east.
In 2017, the two countries also endorsed the joint development of a “Polar Silk Road”.
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China’s concept of the Polar Silk Road – introduced in its first official Arctic White Paper in 2018 – involves creating new freight routes linking East Asia, western Europe and North America through the Arctic Circle. It also covers scientific, environmental and resource extraction efforts.
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