VOA News | Friday, December 13, 2024 
China-Russia Arctic cooperation a US national security concern

LOS ANGELES — The United States and its NATO allies are paying increased attention to military cooperation between Russia and China in the Arctic, where the two countries have conducted joint naval exercises, coast guard patrols and strategic bomber air training. That cooperation includes more closely coordinated military drills, said Iris Ferguson, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for Arctic and Global Resilience. She spoke during an online December 5 discussion hosted by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The increasing levels of collaboration between Russia and the PRC [People’s Republic of China] and the unprecedented style of collaboration, especially in the military domain, give us again pause,” said Ferguson. In October, the coast guards of China and Russia conducted their first joint Arctic maritime patrol. In July, four Russian and Chinese strategic bombers flew over the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea, marking the first time their military aircraft launched from the same airbase in northern Russia and the first time Chinese bombers flew within the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone. China and Russia also held joint naval exercises in the Bering Strait in 2022 and 2023. China has no Arctic territory of its own but is interested in growing opportunities for mineral exploration and a shipping route to Europe as climate change causes the Arctic ice cap to recede…Read more