Canada moves to protect Arctic from threats by Russia and China

Canadian soldiers are shown during a training exercise in 2023 in the Arctic region of Nunavut, the country’s northernmost province. Ottawa says its focus on the Arctic comes after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “has shaken the foundations” of international cooperation in the northern region. (Nasuna Stuart-Ulin/The New York Times)

OTTAWA, Ontario — Citing growing interest by China and Russia in the Arctic as global warming makes the region more accessible, Canada on Friday said it would focus on building stronger alliances with other nations in the region, particularly the United States.

“For many years, Canada has aimed to manage the Arctic and northern regions cooperatively with other states as a zone of low tension,” according to a statement by the Canadian government.

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But more recent developments, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, had “shaken the foundations of international cooperation in the Arctic,” the statement said.

Canada has long debated how best to assert control over its vast but very sparsely populated Arctic.

The policy statement calls climate change “the overarching threat” to that control. Warmer temperatures and thinning ice make it increasingly likely that it will soon be possible in the summers for ships to regularly travel from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean by way of an Arctic route known as the Northwest Passage.

Canada’s government said the country was committed to increasing military spending in the Arctic, including a 5 billion Canadian dollar ($3.6 billion) upgrade of defense systems used by the North American Aerospace Defense Command — a joint operation of the two countries.

“It is clear that Russia has no red lines, its designs on the Arctic and its resources are well known,” Mélanie Joly, the foreign minister said in announcing the policy Friday. “But what is new is that Russia is increasingly dependent on China because of its war in Ukraine.”

A warming Arctic climate is playing havoc in the region. Melting permafrost threatens coastal communities with inundation, and unstable sea ice is limiting the ability of the Inuit, who dominate the region, to hunt.

China has declared its interest in becoming an Arctic power and many experts say that may be partly driven by the prospect of an expansion of mining being made commercially viable by a less icy Arctic.

China, which also has an Arctic cooperation agreement with Russia, regularly sends “dual purpose” ships into the area to conduct scientific research and to collect military intelligence, according to Canada’s government.

It also listed a number of joint military exercises by China and Russia, as well as Chinese incursions into airspace patrolled by the United States, to underscore how the Arctic is become an increasingly active theater of global competition.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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