SONG CHEN/CHINA DAILY
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Arctic and Global Resilience Iris Ferguson recently expressed concern about China “leveraging its support for Russia’s war in Ukraine to increase its access to the Arctic”.
“The increasing levels of collaboration between Russia and the PRC, and unprecedented styles of collaboration, especially in the military domain, give us pause,” Ferguson said during an appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank based in Washington, on Thursday. Most of Ferguson’s speech was devoted to the supposed “threat” posed by China’s “growing presence in the Arctic”.
In July, the Pentagon released an updated Arctic Strategy, claiming the United States will expand military capabilities and surveillance activities in the Arctic, a cover for its militarization of the Arctic region. The report is full of groundless accusations and deliberate distortion of the normal cooperation between China and Russia in the Arctic.
A day after Ferguson made the distorted remarks, the Canadian government issued its “Arctic foreign policy”, which misinterpreted China’s Arctic policy and discredited China’s normal Arctic activities in accordance with international law.
It is China’s stance that Arctic affairs don’t concern the Arctic states alone. As an important stakeholder in the Arctic, China has always participated in Arctic affairs in line with such principles as “mutual respect, win-win cooperation, and sustainability” and is committed to maintaining peace and stability and promoting sustainable development in the region.
China has reiterated on many occasions that its cooperation with Russia in the Arctic is not targeted at a third party but only to promote regional stability. No country should maliciously distort or misinterpret China’s Arctic policy and make groundless accusations.
China has always been a promoter of international peace and a mediator in international and regional conflicts, and any country that harbors no ill will toward China should not feel threatened by China’s normal activities. It is the US, not China, that carries out the most extensive surveillance and reconnaissance activities; even its ships and aircraft carry out reconnaissance near China, seriously endangering China’s national security and undermining regional peace and stability.
The US and Canada should not be suspicious about China’s normal activities in the Arctic and do more to contribute to Arctic governance.