The Silk Road on Ice: China’s Dream for an Arctic Belt and Road Route

Abstract

The Anthropocene Era has resulted in shrinking ice shelves in the Arctic, opening up possibilities for significant growth in maritime infrastructure, hydrocarbon extraction, and military industries. The receding ice could create a shipping bonanza, trimming weeks off transit times and cutting fuel costs for vessels traveling between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The Chinese see this as an opportunity to add a third route to their expansive Belt and Road Initiative, a Silk Road on Ice, described in this paper with an emphasis on the Sino-Russian alliance to make China’s Arctic dream a reality.