China's Maritime Safety Administration asserts its debut entry into the Arctic Ocean, bolstering its strategic partnership with Russia in regard to oceanic security.
The remark emerged a day subsequent to the US Coast Guard disclosing that they had identified four vessels originating from the Russian Border Guard and Chinese Coast Guard in the Bering Sea – the "most northerly" region they had ever spotted Chinese ships.
The joint patrol reportedly broadened the reach of the coast guard's nautical exploration and assessed their aptitude "to carry out tasks in uncharted waters," as stated in a publication on the China Coast Guard (CCG) official social media account on a Wednesday.
The CCG did not reveal the exact location of the patrol. An image visible on one of the vessels in the accompanying photographs indicated "China Coast Guard, devoted to the Party; displaying loyalty in the Arctic Ocean," alluding to China's ruling Communist Party.
The Russian government has not officially acknowledged the patrol, which Chinese state broadcaster CCTV specified took place "a few days ago." Russian state media TASS disclosed a report on the patrol, citing the CCG statement.
The US Coast Guard (USCG) announced on a Monday that they had spotted the four vessels from the Russian Border Guard and Chinese Coast Guard "sailing in formation in a northeasterly direction" in the Bering Sea, approximately five miles inside Russia's Exclusive Economic Zone on a Saturday.
The Bering Sea spans between Russia and Alaska and forms part of the North Pacific Ocean. It is linked to the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait, a narrow channel separating Asia and North America.
“These recent actions highlight the growing attention in the Arctic from our strategic adversaries,” Rear Adm. Megan Dean, commander of the 17th Coast Guard District, said in the USCG statement.
The US has expressed worries about China's escalating role and cooperation with Russia in the strategically and environmentally delicate Arctic region, as the two nations strengthen their security and economic ties more extensively.
US and Canadian forces intercepted Russian and Chinese bombers flying together near Alaska for the first time in July, while their navies operated together in international waters off the Alaskan coast in 2022 and 2023, according to the US military.
In 2022, the CCG and Russia's Federal Security Service, responsible for coast guard operations, agreed to enhance their "maritime law enforcement cooperation" and China was invited to observe Russia's "Arctic Patrol-2023" security drills.
Experts believe that the new patrol is a part of an overarching strategy – intended to convey a message to Washington, whose maritime activities in the South and East China Seas have been a source of frustration for Beijing.
“The fact that the China Coast Guard is operating farther north than it has ever done suggests that China is extending its Coast Guard into regions that the US has traditionally considered its own domain,” said Carl Schuster, a retired US Navy captain and former chief of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center.
“China in particular is signaling that the US Coast Guard is not the only one that can operate within and near other countries’ Economic Exclusion Zones from their own home waters,” he stated.
Arctic ambitions
For years, Beijing has aimed to expand its presence in the Arctic, designating itself as a “near Arctic state” and enhancing its icebreaker and research capabilities in the region, where it is also heavily invested in Russian energy projects.
Russia, as one of eight Arctic states, has historically been wary of welcoming China too warmly in a region vital to its security and military power.
However, observers argue that Moscow's increasing reliance on China, its most significant diplomatic and economic ally, in the wake of its conflict with Ukraine may be altering this calculation.
In its first update to its Arctic strategy in five years, the US Department of Defense in July warned that “growing cooperation” between Russia and China in the region has the “potential to alter the Arctic's stability and threat picture.”
The recent joint activities, including the July patrol near Alaska, raise questions of whether Russia's focus on controlling access to the Russian Arctic is “increasingly overshadowed by economic and political considerations,” said Sophie Arts, a fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the US’s Geostrategy North team.
“However, when it comes to growing Russian willingness to cater to Chinese interests, we have to take into account the location in which these activities are taking place,” she pointed out, referencing the strategically peripheral patrol location as an indication that "Russian concerns about maintaining control and maintaining its defensive bastion remain a priority."
Andreas Østhagen, a senior researcher at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Norway, expressed doubt that Chinese vessels had sailed in the Arctic Ocean itself.
He said that sailing north of the Bering Strait typically requires icebreaker capabilities and noted that the US Coast Guard did not report the ships entering the Bering Strait, where the Arctic Ocean begins. CNN has reached out to the USCG for comment.
“It still connects to the broader Arctic region, even if this is not the Arctic Ocean. Operating off the coast of Alaska or in the Bering Sea at large is part of an ongoing trend where China is asserting its presence in the Arctic, or near the Arctic,” he stated.
Economic interests
The China Coast Guard is an integral part of the Chinese People's Armed Police, which falls under the purview of the Central Military Commission – and it has frequently been at the forefront of China's efforts to assert its territorial claims in disputed waters in the South China Sea.
The Philippines, for example, has frequently charged the CCG of targeting its fishing and other vessels with water cannons and other tactics, including in what it described as a “brutal assault” with bladed weapons on Filipino forces in June.
Besides projecting strength, Beijing has a practical interest in expanding its cooperation with Russia and increasing its presence in far-northern waters, where its coast guard could potentially safeguard its economic interests in the future.
In its 2018 Arctic strategy, China articulated its ambition for a "Polar Expressway," aiming to establish transportation links between Asia and Europe by utilizing ice-free shipping routes such as the Northern Sea Route, stretching across the Arctic and reaching China. Currently, this path is primarily navigable during summer and autumn, but is forecasted to become more profitable for worldwide freight as climate change dissolves Arctic ice.
Anticipated cargo transit along the Northern Sea Route during the summer-autumn sailing period is projected to break previous records by the season's conclusion, based on statistics from the Centre for Polar Logistics attached to Norway's Nord University. As of September 30, approximately 95% of the cargo transport along this route originated from Russia and headed to China, the center stated in a recent report.
The cooperation between coast guards is relevant to China's interests in maritime transport in at least some sections of the Northern Sea Route, according to Østhagen. "The initiation of these operations signifies an additional phase in the ongoing practical collaborations between the two nations in a polar or near-polar environment," he explained.
When considering these recent joint activities, "it's all about augmenting China's presence in this Arctic region and its capacity to operate so far north," he concluded.
The CCG's patrol in the Bering Sea, where they displayed a message of loyalty in the Arctic Ocean, indicates China's increasing interest in expanding its presence in the Arctic region, following a collaboration with Russia.
China's strategic activities in the Arctic, such as the joint patrol, are aimed at extending its Coast Guard's reach, challenging the US's traditional dominance in the region.
