Why China’s Ice Silk Road has Trump up in Arctic arms
While Western media called Republican President-elect Donald Trump a “madman” for suggesting he would buy or “invade” Greenland, China is quietly building up a new maritime Silk Road in the Arctic Ocean with Russia’s assistance.
On December 22, 2024, Trump wrote in an X post that “for purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”
On January 7, he told the media that he would not rule out using military or economic force in order to take over the autonomous Danish territory.
In August 2019, when Trump was in his first presidential term, he said he was considering an attempt to buy Greenland for strategic reasons. At the time, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Greenland was not for sale and that Trump’s proposal was “absurd.” Trump called Frederiksen’s comments “nasty.”
At that time, the 2022 Ukrainian-Russian war had not yet broken out and China-European Union relations were still relatively stable.
Back in January 2018, the Chinese government published “China’s Arctic Policy,” outlining its plan to “utilize Arctic resources in a lawful and rational manner.”
Those policies include:
- China’s participation in the development of Arctic shipping routes
- Participating in the exploration for and exploitation of oil, gas, mineral and other non-living resources
- Participating in conservation and utilization of fisheries and other living resources
- Participating in developing tourism resources
“China is an important stakeholder in Arctic affairs. Geographically, China is a ‘Near-Arctic State’, one of the continental States that are closest to the Arctic Circle,” the Chinese government said in the