US sees “concerning signals” in military cooperation between Russia and China in the Arctic
Kyiv • UNN
The US Ambassador for the Arctic has expressed concern over Russia and China's joint military activities off Alaska. The countries have stepped up cooperation in the region, including joint bomber flights and patrols.
The United States is closely monitoring the growing cooperation between Russia and China in the Arctic, and some of their recent military joint actions in the region send "concerning signals," said Michael Sfraga, the first US ambassador-at-large for Arctic affairs, UNN reports citing Reuters.
Details
Michael Sfraga said the "frequency and the complexity" of recent military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing in the region sent "concerning signals".
"The fact that they are working together in the Arctic has our attention," Sfraga, who was sworn in last month, told Reuters in a telephone interview from Alaska. "We are being both vigilant and diligent about this. We're watching very closely this evolution of their activity."
"It raises our radar, literally and figuratively," he added.
Sfraga referred to the joint flight of Russian and Chinese bombers off the coast of Alaska in July, as well as the joint passage of Chinese and Russian coast guard ships through the Bering Strait in October.
He said that these actions were carried out in international waters in accordance with international law, but the fact that the bombers flew off the coast of Alaska raised concerns about US security.
"We really need to think about security, strengthening our own alliances, our own mutual defense," Sfraga said. - "Alaska, the North American Arctic, is NATO's western flank, and so we need to think about the Arctic as such.
The activity has also raised concerns among U.S. allies, as the Bering Strait and Bering Sea provide access to the North and South Pacific, he said.
The Pentagon said in a report released in July that the growing rapprochement between Russia and China in the Arctic was "troubling.
Addendum
Russia and China have stepped up military cooperation in the Arctic, deepening ties in recent years in general, including China's supply of dual-use goods to Moscow, despite Western sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Russia and the United States are among eight countries with territory in the resource-rich Arctic. China calls itself an "almost Arctic" power and wants to create a "Polar Silk Road" in the Arctic, a new shipping route, as the polar ice sheet recedes due to rising temperatures.
China and Russia, as the newspaper points out, are trying to develop Arctic shipping routes, as Moscow seeks to supply more oil and gas to China amid Western sanctions. Beijing is looking for an alternative shipping route to reduce its dependence on the Strait of Malacca.
The Arctic also has fossil fuels and minerals underground and on the seabed that may become more accessible with global warming.
