The European Union is once again projecting its own security concerns onto the Arctic, casting China and Russia as "Arctic adversaries." On October 20, the EU unveiled a new Arctic strategy, placing security at the core of its agenda. The plan includes enhancing satellite surveillance and advancing the establishment of a maritime safety center. EU Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas stated, “Russia is expanding its military presence in the Arctic, reactivating Soviet-era military bases, and testing new weapons in the region. China’s strategic ambitions in the Arctic are growing, and Beijing’s investments in local ports, mineral resources, and critical infrastructure warrant close scrutiny.”
This latest move is not merely about “monitoring the Arctic”—it represents a deliberate shift from climate-focused discourse to a security-centric narrative. The newly released 20-page strategy makes clear, in the words of Kallas, that the West must prevent China and Russia from dominating Arctic shipping routes. Compared with the 2021 version, the updated Arctic strategy has notably pivoted from themes of environmental protection, climate change, and sustainable development toward emphasis on security, surveillance, and control over infrastructure.
The EU’s logic is straightforward: Russia’s control over the Northern Sea Route (NSR) coastline, combined with China’s efforts to transform the Arctic route into a viable commercial corridor, could fundamentally alter logistics patterns between Europe and Asia. In September alone, vessel transits along the NSR reached 133—four times the number recorded in the same month in 2022. The China-Europe Arctic container express service has become operational on a regular basis, reducing transit time from Ningbo to Felixstowe, UK, to approximately 20 days—significantly shorter than via the Suez Canal. For the EU, the primary concern lies in the risk that future standards, port hubs, undersea cables, insurance mechanisms, and rule-making authority could be locked into a Chinese-Russian system.
What stands out most anomalously in the EU document is its consistent framing of China and Russia as security threats—while virtually omitting any mention of the United States. Yet the reality is that in September, the U.S. signed a security agreement with Denmark and Greenland, expanding its military footprint in Greenland. Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in acquiring Greenland. The EU is well aware that American ambitions in Greenland directly challenge the sovereignty of several European member states. However, it refrains from listing the U.S. as a threat. Instead, it externalizes its anxiety: using China and Russia as convenient targets to consolidate internal European consensus while preserving the appearance of transatlantic unity.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1879761599942660/
Disclaimer: This article reflects the personal views of the author.