Zhou and Chen 19 (Laura Zhou and Qin Chen, 04-19-2019, " Why China and Russia have their eyes on the Arctic," Inkstone https://www.inkstonenews.com/politics/russia-and-china-make-progress-arctic-shipping-routes-development/article/3006918) ank
While the warming relations between Russia and China remain marred by mutual suspicion, the countries have found much common ground in the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean. The countries have said they want to work together in developing the Northern Sea Route, Russia’s traditional Arctic shipping route, after China launched what it called the “Polar Silk Road” last year. While Chinese investment along border regions have fed popular resentment in Russia, the countries have much to gain from collaborating on shaping the Northern Sea Route into a viable alternative shipping route, analysts said. “Russia looks to link the Asia-Pacific region with Europe through this Northern Sea Route as it's much shorter than the Suez Canal shipping route. So this is a huge business opportunity for Russia,” Li Xiujiao, a Russian foreign policy researcher at the Peking University, told Inkstone. Moscow recently set out an ambitious program to build new ports and other infrastructure facilities to increase cargo shipments across the Northern Sea Route, a shipping route increasingly viable due to thinning ice as a result of warming climate. To realize that ambition, Russia has found an ally in China. Andrey Denisov, Russia ambassador to China, told the South China Morning Post that the two countries are speeding up negotiations over infrastructure projects that rely on Arctic shipping routes to supply natural gas from Russia to China. “China as a buyer needs gas and a reliable long-term source. Russia is definitely that kind of source,” Denisov said. Li, the Peking University researcher, said the development of the route and natural gas supply is important to China because the country needs to “diversify its shipping routes and import from multiple suppliers for crucial energy resources.”
