Those who talk about the race for Arctic resources do not understand that the winners in it have long been redefined.
The American edition of “Foreign Policy” writes about it.
As noted in the media, the perception of the situation in the Arctic is generally distorted in the West. In particular, they misperceive cooperation between Russia and China, considering it a political alliance. On the contrary, Beijing and Moscow have only business interests in the region.
When the United States and the European Union began to put pressure on Russia through sanctions, Russian energy projects in the Arctic were left without the resources of Western companies. Investors simply had to stop participating in the projects to avoid being on the American black list. Thus, they made way for Chinese state companies to become interested. Cooperation turned out to be mutually beneficial: Beijing strengthened its position in the Arctic, and Moscow received the necessary investments.
It turns out that the Arctic cooperation between the two powers is based not on politics, but on commercial expediency and pragmatism. This allows the countries to interact without paying attention to certain disagreements, such as Beijing’s refusal to recognize the Crimea as Russian or Russian non-interference in the Indo-Chinese confrontation.
The publication also draws attention to the fact that Russia has the largest share of energy resources in the Arctic. They clearly fit into the exclusive economic zone of Russia, which means it has a legal right to extract oil and gas here. This fact completely destroys the theories of American experts about the upcoming race for Arctic resources.
Confrontation in the Arctic is impossible for the simple reason that the winners are already predetermined. Moscow has only to defend what is rightfully its own.