KEFLAVIK, ICELAND – Growing cooperation between China and Russia is a major concern for the U.S. and its Arctic allies, the U.S. military’s top officer told USNI News on Wednesday.
Beijing and Moscow’s joint operations in the High North have raised concerns with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown ahead of a trip to Iceland this week to attend the Arctic Chiefs of Defence Conference.
“We are seeing more and more activity where Russia and [the] PRC are working together, and the Arctic is the most recent area that we’re seeing that,” Brown said.
“It’s something we all need to be paying attention to and to understand what they’re doing together, and is it for some type of positive benefit to the collective whole, or is that something they’re doing to challenge other nations and other interests?”
Within the last several months, Chinese and Russian forces have drilled in the Pacific in a series of major naval drills, Russian bombers have flown more missions near Alaska and a joint Russian Border Guard and China Coast Guard surface group was spotted in the Bering Sea.
Key to China’s interest in the region is the creation of a commercial trade route over the Northeast passage to Europe. The so-called “Polar Silk Road” would allow Chinese ships to bypass the Middle East and the Suez Canal to Europe and the Mediterranean and instead sail north of Russia.
In August, China dispatched three icebreakers to the Arctic as part of a research mission that is set to deliver both civil and military benefits, USNI News reported.
“Military-civilian mixing is the main way for great powers to achieve a polar military presence,” reads an excerpt from a Chinese military textbook, according to a recent CSIS report.
Chinese interest in the Arctic compounds the ongoing Russian operations in the region. Russia has an extensive icebreaker fleet and has established installations along its northern frontier.
Russia is also continuing to expand its nuclear submarine fleet based in the High North for operations in the Atlantic.
Earlier this year, the Russian Navy dispatched Kazan, a Yasen-M-class guided missile submarine, to the Caribbean. The U.S. Navy considers Kazan to be one of the most capable submarines in the world. The attack boat features a 1,000-mile range 3M-54 Kalibr NK land attack missile that can hold up to 75 percent of European capitals at risk from the North Atlantic.
This summer, the Pentagon released an Arctic strategy that calls for the U.S. to deter malign activities by Russia and China in the region.
The U.S. is currently leading the collective Arctic defense heads and the meeting with delegations from Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland.
Brown told USNI News that a major goal of the conference is to enhance domain awareness and maneuverability in the Arctic.