China’s Polar Silk Road Reaches Britain Through Russia’s Arctic Corridor

Beijing’s first commercial voyage through Russia’s Northern Sea Route halves transit time to Europe, marking a new front in CCP–Russia cooperation.
China’s Polar Silk Road Reaches Britain Through Russia’s Arctic Corridor
The Russian “50 Years of Victory” nuclear-powered icebreaker at the North Pole on Aug. 18, 2021. Ekaterina Anisimova/AFP via Getty Images
|Updated:
0:00

A Chinese container ship has completed a voyage through the Arctic to a UK port, cutting transit time to Europe in half and signaling a deeper alignment between Beijing and Moscow.

The Arctic, a region once defined by thick snow and isolation, is becoming a testing ground for power, now that it’s been proven that shipping times between Asia and the British Isles can be cut from roughly 40 to 18 days because of melting ice.

Owen Evans
Owen Evans
Author
Owen Evans is a UK-based journalist covering a wide range of national stories, with a particular interest in civil liberties and free speech.