Trump administration officials warned that China and Russia are trying to take advantage of melting Arctic channels and that inaction by the United States could lead to the two U.S. enemies getting a foothold on America’s “northern northern border.”
“This could put at risk our collective efforts to ensure the Arctic remains a region of rules-based governance and low tension,” State Department deputy assistant secretary for Nordic, Baltic, and Arctic Security Affairs Michael J. Murphy said in prepared remarks scheduled for delivery Tuesday before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing Tuesday.
“We must adjust our Arctic policy to today’s new strategic reality, which is characterized by the return of great power competition — a strategic change driven by the desire of Russia and the People’s Republic of China to rearrange the global security order by challenging the United States and the West,” Murphy will say. “We should expect the rapidly changing Arctic system — diminishing sea ice coverage, declining snow cover, melting ice sheets, and thawing permafrost — to create greater incentives for Russia and the PRC to pursue Arctic agendas that clash with United States and Western interests.”
Murphy and Coast Guard Vice Commandant Charles W. Ray, who also will testify, said that China and Russia are looking to expand trade with the Eastern Hemisphere and that climate change has given them a way to get through once-frozen water. Murphy said that although regional agreements dictate cooperation between countries, Russia has a history of restricting passage in this area, and it’s expanding its hold could pose a problem for U.S. interests.
“The ice is receding; storms are increasing in frequency and magnitude; the coast is eroding; and permafrost is thawing,” Ray’s prepared remarks state. The Coast Guard is the only U.S armed forces entity with military and law enforcement authorities and monitors events in this region rather than other federal law enforcement agencies.
“The concern with Chinese activities in the Arctic is the potential to disrupt the cooperation and stability in the region. Around the globe, China uses coercion, influence operations, debt-trap diplomacy, and implied military threats to persuade other states to heed China’s strategic agenda,” Ray states.
China and Russia are trying to create water routes to open up trade with Europe. The Arctic channel would save them 13,000 miles in transit distance, said subcommittee Chairman Lou Correa, a California Democrat. The two nations are bulking up ships known as icebreakers, which can tear apart ice. Russia has the most of these boats of any country at more than 50, while China fleet is expected to outpace that of the U.S. in two years. The Coast Guard has just two of these vessels.
Congress gave the Coast Guard funding in 2019 for the construction of a single new icebreaker that is expected to be completed in 2025. The Coast Guard has asked for six.
