China’s military and economic ambitions are growing in Europe and the Arctic, where the rising communist power may be trying to gain control over important shipping lanes or seaports, according to a top U.S. admiral and Western analysts.

“They’re building the first nuclear icebreaker,” The Arctic Institute founder Malte Humpert said. “That’s going to be the test platform to build nuclear aircraft carriers. It’s all linked together … the Arctic is becoming a geopolitical space.”