US Warns of Growing Russia–China Cooperation in Arctic

Michael Sfraga, the first U.S. ambassador-at-large for Arctic affairs, said in an interview published on Nov. 1 that there have been “concerning signals” regarding Russian and Chinese military cooperation in the Arctic region.
“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.”
Sfraga noted that these exercises took place in international waters in accordance with international law. Still, the proximity of those bomber planes to Alaska had raised security concerns in the United States.
“The Arctic is strategically vital to U.S. security,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said during a July press briefing announcing the new Arctic plan.
The updated plan includes modernizing the North American Aerospace Defense Command, carrying out regular cold weather training and drills with allies and investing in new systems.
Hicks confirmed that Chinese research in the Arctic is believed to have military applications and may raise the need to counter it.
“It is imperative that the joint force is equipped and trained with what they need to succeed in the Arctic,” she said in July.
Some of China’s research centers lie within the borders of NATO ally countries.
They noted that the first Chinese Arctic research station was opened in Svalbard, Norway, in 2004 and is used by groups designated by the Pentagon as Chinese military-controlled companies.
The lawmakers in their letter quoted Data Abyss founder LJ Eads, who found that the research projects enhanced military capabilities, “particularly in areas such as missile guidance, over-the-horizon radar detection, satellite communications, space object tracking, early warning systems, electronic warfare, submarine detection, and strategic communication and control in polar regions.”
China also partnered with NATO member Iceland and has been collecting data through the China–Iceland Arctic Science Observatory since 2013. According to the lawmakers’ letter, the parties agreed to make data collected through their collaboration public, but the data have never been released. The legislators expressed concern that the information is instead being used to improve the accuracy of Chinese military radar, surveillance, and tracking.