High Arctic Challenges

Vincent J. Curtis

28 June 23

The Chinese Communist Party justifies its existence to the Chinese people on the basis of its ability to deliver rapid economic growth, prosperity, and wealth.  In part, because of this, and in part to justify repression, China, under the leadership of the CCP, is extending its economic influence all around the globe, unprecedented in Chinese history.  Chinese political leadership has for millennia been inward looking, and its contact with the world of barbarians (that would include us) occurred on the fringes of the empire.  The only interest that Chinese political leadership customarily took far outside the borders of the empire was to keep tabs on Chinese nationals, lest they plot to overthrow the regime.  The CCP maintains this traditional Chinese policy through, for example, the establishment of Confucius Instituted on university campuses attended by Chinese students, and by the establishment of so-called police stations in places where there are numerous people of Chinese ancestry.

With its new Indo-Pacific strategy, Canada acknowledges the military threat behind Chinese economic expansion. (Taiwan is a separate issue of high military significance that is independent of mainland Chinese economic and diplomatic expansion.)

China is also interested in the Arctic for its economic, and possibly shipping, potential.  The United States millitary and State Department are concerned that the Arctic will become a space of great power rivalry.  In particular, that “Russia and China [will] seek to use military and economic power to gain and maintain access to the region at the expense of US interests.”

The international body overseeing Arctic affairs is the Arctic Council.  The eight nations that compose it are: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the U.S.  Each member state has sovereign territory within the region.  China does not, but nevertheless considers herself a “Near Arctic” power and has held observer status at the Arctic Council since 2014.

It’s the opinion of the United States government that China aims to gain access to Arctic resources and sea routes to “secure and bolster its military, economic, and scientific rise.”  In support of this opinion, the United States observes that “China has described the Arctic as a new strategic frontier…where there is “’undetermined sovereignty.’”  Such a position supplies justification for Chinese access to, and presence in, the Arctic region.

China began “normalizing” its presence in the Arctic twenty years ago, when as a signatory to the Spitsbergen (Svalbard) Treaty of 1920, China opened a scientific research station on the island.  China maintains an enduring presence in the region, ostensibly for scientific purposes, and which lends support to a Chinese claim for control of economic resources in the Arctic.

And the Arctic region is rich in untapped oil, gas, and mineral resources.  Among the important mineral deposits are the base metals aluminum, copper, iron, nickel and tin; the precious metals gold, silver, and platinum; diamonds; also, graphite; uranium; and, of great importance, the rare earths: dysprosium, neodymium, and praseodymium – which are essential materials for extremely powerful magnets and lasers.  China already has near monopolistic control of rare earth metals, and control of the Arctic supplies would place a Chinese lock on the materials used in advanced weapons, cell phones, laptops, and cars.

The United State government believes that China “desires for the Arctic states to acknowledge [her] rights under international law and, therefore, its equality to the Arctic states regarding its continued access to the high seas of the central Arctic. “ (That would include the Northwest Passage, which Canada claims as territorial waters.) “In order to lend credence to Beijing’s questionable claim to near-Arctic status, China launched the Polar Silk Road Initiative in 2018. The initiative builds on the soft-power tactics of the Belt and Road Initiative by investing in infrastructure development in far northern communities.”

Baffin Island hosts the Mary River Mine, an open pit iron operation, which is in financial trouble, and would be an easy takeover target by Chinese interests.  China would get a commercial presence in the Arctic at a discount.

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