Once a frozen landmass, the Arctic is turning into a centre of geopolitical competition between the West and its rivals. After Russia, the expansion of Chinese presence in the high north has purportedly rattled NATO members, particularly Norway and the United States.
NATO state and member of the Arctic Council, Norway has raised alarm over the steadily rising Chinese presence in the High North, quipping that China’s influence in the region is currently “limited but growing,” as it works more closely with ally Russia, as highlighted by a latest Newsweek report.
It cited the Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) annual threat assessment report published in February 2025, which particularly highlights China’s threat and the growing collaboration between China and Russia in the Arctic.
In fact, NIS reports have consistently named these two countries as threats during the last few years. However, the dangers have now become more pronounced.
The 2025 threat assessment states: “China has ambitions to strengthen its presence, capabilities and influence in the Arctic in the coming years. China is facilitating this by strengthening cooperation with Russia on research and commercial activities, as well as by increasing China’s national icebreaker capacity.”
Norway’s concerns are noteworthy as it is home to the Arctic Council headquarters, an intergovernmental forum that promotes cooperation and coordination among Arctic states. The council includes eight members: the US, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Finland, and Canada.
As global temperatures rise and the ice cap recedes, the Arctic is becoming more accessible. The Arctic Ocean’s ice cover is decreasing at an alarming rate of thousands of square kilometers annually, opening more sea routes. This implies easier access to the region, which has turned it into a hotspot of geopolitical rivalry between China and Russia on one side, and western countries led by the US on the other.
While Russia’s Arctic ambitions are well-known and discernible, China is a fairly new entrant. Unlike Russia, an Arctic nation whose northern border makes up 40 percent of the Arctic coastline, China is not a frontline Arctic state and is located about 900 miles (1,448 kilometres) away from the Arctic.
That has, however, not stopped China from declaring itself a “near-Arctic” state in 2018.
China Has Arrived
The Norwegian Intelligence states that China’s investments in Russian liquefied natural gas projects are its “largest and most prominent” Arctic-related activity. However, it also warns that Russia might entice South Africa, India, and Brazil to join its Arctic energy initiatives.
For instance, reports indicate that Russia’s largest producer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is scouring international markets to find buyers for gas from its sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 project. It has reportedly set its sights on India, a strategic partner.
The threat assessment report also states that China is focusing on building larger icebreakers and icebreakers with nuclear propulsion, which will improve its capability to map the Arctic for both military and civilian uses. This may not come as a surprise given that last year, China made an unprecedented move by deploying three icebreakers to the Arctic, including its most advanced vessel, Xue Long 2.
For China, the Arctic holds strategic, economic, and environmental significance. Experts warn that the increase in Chinese activity in the region is based on exercising rights related to scientific research, freedom of navigation and overflight, fishery activities, cable and pipeline laying, and resource exploitation in the region. However, they go beyond and often have dual purposes.
In 2023, for instance, China placed acoustic listening buoys in the North Sea and ramped up its research activities in Ny-Ålesund.
The South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based news outlet, earlier reported that China is looking to install acoustic devices in the Arctic after successfully testing and assessing its underwater listening devices.
The report quoted a research published in the Chinese Journal of Polar Research that says: “The acoustic information collected by the planned large-scale listening network could be used in a wide range of applications, including “subglacial communication, navigation and positioning, target detection and the reconstruction of marine environmental parameters.”
More recently, reports have indicated that a Chinese institute was conducting research that might be used for both military and civilian purposes in the Norwegian Arctic’s Svalbard archipelago. These scientific activities in Svalbard are in line with its overarching objective of expanding its knowledge of the Arctic environment and climate change.
Although this research advances scientific understanding worldwide, it also gives China geopolitical expertise that may influence its regional policy choices.
The Arctic is strategic for several reasons, including the Northern Sea Route, which is a key focus. This shipping pathway could dramatically reduce transit times between East Asia and Europe.
Additionally, China has expressed an interest in building a ‘Polar Silk Road’ in the region. It has doubled its investments in the region ostensibly to focus on critical mineral extraction and expand its scientific activities. However, the strategic value of being able to traverse the region year-round is not lost on either China or Russia.
Moreover, military experts and security analysts have noted that China’s reliance on shipping routes in the Indian Ocean is seen as a strategic weakness in the country, particularly in a potential conflict over Taiwan, leading Beijing to consider alternative options such as Arctic routes.
The Arctic’s strategic value as a shipping route, a source of raw materials, and a theater for projecting power has made it a focal point for Chinese ambitions.
The warning from Norway is not the first. The United States has long been monitoring Chinese and Russian presence in the region, and looking for ways to counter it.
Concerns Over China-Russia Collaboration In Arctic
In 2022, the White House released a 10-year Arctic strategy calling for deterring increased Russian and Chinese activity in the region.
Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in December 2024, Iris A. Ferguson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Arctic and Global Resilience said China is working closely with Russia in its attempt to be seen as an Arctic power. She pointed out that China, which lacks Arctic territory, has long sought to expand its influence in the region, claiming to be a “near-Arctic state.”
The two countries have deepened collaboration in the high north. The first such push was observed in the summer of 2023 when Russian and Chinese naval forces conducted joint military exercises in the Bering Strait.
Later, in July 2024, four Chinese warships were observed inside the United States’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), close to Alaska. They arrived just a week after China and Russia launched their annual joint patrol in the Pacific. When approached by the US Coast Guard, the Chinese navy justified its presence as “freedom of navigation operations.”
The US has warned that Russia, despite its setbacks in Ukraine, continues to pose a serious threat, and China, Washington’s principal long-term adversary, is extending its influence in the region.
The Pentagon further stated that China was exploiting the shifting dynamics in the Arctic to enhance its influence, gain access to Arctic resources, and assume a larger role in regional governance.
