Why does China often refer to itself as a “Near-Arctic state” when the most northern point of the country is nearly 1,000 miles away from the Arctic Ocean?
As climate change in the twenty-first century began to reveal undiscovered oil and open up previously frozen shipping routes in the Arctic, China sought to become involved in the region in hopes of taking advantage of global-shipping shortcuts and hydrocarbon resources.
In 2018, China released its Arctic policy officially declaring its intentions to actively participate in Arctic affairs as a major shareholder and declaring itself a “near-Arctic state.”
It has considerably increased its presence in the region over the past decade, though without any territorial claims in the Arctic, but rather as a designated “observer state.”
China has even renamed maritime routes in the Arctic as a “Polar Silk Road,” linking its initiatives in the Arctic to other Belt and Road operations in Eurasia and North America.
For the rest of this article: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/will-arctic-become-next-south-china-sea-155046