COLD WAR 2.0
FILE PHOTO: A general view of snowcapped mountains and the Arctic Ocean on the coast o
f Svalbard near Longyearbyen, Norway,
By Gwladys Fouche
OSLO (Reuters) - The United States is watching growing cooperation between Russia and China in the Arctic closely and some of their recent military collaboration in the region sends "concerning signals", the U.S. Arctic ambassador said.
Russia and China have stepped up military cooperation in the Arctic while deepening overall ties in recent years that include China supplying Moscow with dual-use goods despite Western sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Russia and the United States are among eight countries with territory in the resource-rich Arctic. China calls itself a "near-Arctic" state and wants to create a "Polar Silk Road" in the Arctic, a new shipping route as the polar ice sheet recedes with rising temperatures.
Michael Sfraga, the United States' first ambassador-at-large for Arctic affairs, said the "frequency and the complexity" of recent military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing in the region sent "concerning signals".
"The fact that they are working together in the Arctic has our attention," Sfraga, who was sworn in last month, told Reuters in a telephone interview from Alaska. "We are being both vigilant and diligent about this. We're watching very closely this evolution of their activity."
"It raises our radar, literally and figuratively," he added.
Sfraga cited a joint run by Russian and Chinese bomber planes off the coast of Alaska in July, and Chinese and Russian coast guard ships sailing together through the Bering Strait in October.
He said these activities had been conducted in international waters, in line with international law, but the fact that the bombers flew off the coast of Alaska had raised concerns for U.S. security.
"We do need to think about security, heighten our own alliances, our own mutual defences," Sfraga said. "Alaska, the North American Arctic, is NATO's western flank and so we need to think about the Arctic that way."
The activity was also a concern for U.S. allies as the Bering Strait and the Bering Sea give access to the North Pacific and South Pacific, he said.
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The Pentagon said in a report released in July that the growing alignment between Russia and China in the Arctic was "a concern".
China and Russia are trying to develop Arctic shipping routes as Moscow seeks to deliver more oil and gas to China amid Western sanctions. Beijing is seeking an alternative shipping route to reduce its dependence on the Strait of Malacca.
The Arctic also holds fossil fuels and minerals beneath the land and the seabed that could become more accessible with global warming.
(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
US and China in 'robust conversation' on North Korea sending troops to Russia: Blinken
South China Morning Post
Fri, November 1, 2024 at 3:30 AM MDT
5 min read
72
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways
US and China are engaged in high-level dialogue regarding North Korea sending troops to Russia as the Kremlin wages war on Ukraine, America's top diplomat said on Thursday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described "a robust conversation" with China taking place this week about Moscow and Pyongyang's military cooperation in the Ukraine war.
Blinken urged Beijing to "do more" to curb "provocative" actions being taken by two of its closest partners.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
"I think they know well the concerns that we have and the expectations that, both in word and deed, they'll use the influence that they have to work to curb these activities. So we'll see if they take action," Blinken said of China after a meeting he and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin held with their South Korean counterparts in Washington.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul at the State Department in Washington on Thursday. Photo: Getty Images via AFP alt=US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul at the State Department in Washington on Thursday. Photo: Getty Images via AFP>
His remarks came after a New York Times report on Thursday said his deputy, Kurt Campbell, and other State Department officials met Chinese diplomats "for several hours" in the residence of Xie Feng, Beijing's envoy to Washington, on Tuesday.
Asked about the meeting, the Chinese embassy in Washington told the Post that China and the US "have always maintained regular, routine and normal communication on China-US relations and international and regional issues".
"China's position on the Ukraine crisis is consistent and clear. China strives for peace talks and political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. This position remains unchanged. China will continue to play a constructive role to this end," said spokesperson Liu Pengyu.
The Sino-American engagement came amid Washington and Kyiv's latest assessments that North Korean troops could see combat against Ukraine "in the coming days".
North Korean troops were reported last week to be in eastern Russia in a major escalation of the armed conflict that began in February 2022.
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Blinken said at least 8,000 North Korean soldiers were now in Russia's Kursk region and receiving training in "artillery, UAVs, basic infantry operations, including trench clearing".
This activity, the envoy continued, indicated that Russians "fully intend to use these forces in frontline operations".
Blinken warned that once North Korean troops engage in combat against Ukraine they would become "legitimate" military targets. And the US would closely consult its allies on what "actions" to take in response, he added.
But the Chinese foreign ministry last week said it was unaware whether North Korea had deployed troops to Russia.
When asked about what role it would play if there were escalations in Ukraine and the Korean peninsula as a result of Pyongyang's troop deployment, Beijing called for all parties to de-escalate tensions.
The ministry stated that China was always committed to peace on the peninsula and a political solution to the Ukraine conflict.
Since last year, Russia and North Korea have moved to bolster their military ties, with Pyongyang reportedly sending tens of millions of munitions to support the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine.
In exchange, Pyongyang has received Moscow's technological support for its tactical weapons.
China has largely refrained from commenting on Russia and North Korea's apparently growing closeness, saying it is an internal matter for the two countries.
Some analysts see their unprecedented level of direct military cooperation as putting Beijing in an awkward position.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un toast during a reception in Pyongyang on June 19, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images alt=Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un toast during a reception in Pyongyang on June 19, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images>
Aside from the stigma of being grouped with Russia and North Korea, China's ties with the West have frayed over its alleged support of dual-use goods to the Kremlin.
Duyeon Kim of the Centre for a New American Security, a Washington-based think tank, said Beijing did not want regional tensions to escalate such that Moscow and Pyongyang's actions could trigger a response by the US.
"I do not expect China to overtly make some sort of public announcement or ... pressure North Korea and Russia publicly, although I would suspect it might do some of this pressuring quietly, discreetly, especially considering its strategic competition with the United States, its relationship with Russia," Kim said last week.
South Korean Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun on Thursday said Seoul believed Beijing could "intervene" if the two countries' military cooperation deepened.
"I think a more clear assessment is China is watching and waiting and if the situation worsens ... China either as a mediator or in any other role may be intervening," he said.
Austin urged China to ask Russia "some hard questions" as to whether it sought to escalate the Ukraine conflict when Beijing has professed it is "serious about its desire for de-escalation".
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko discussed the Ukraine conflict in Beijing.
The two countries reaffirmed their ties, calling them "not subject to interference", a week after President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin delivered the same message during the Brics summit in Kazan.
OSLO (Reuters) - The United States is watching growing cooperation between Russia and China in the Arctic closely and some of their recent military collaboration in the region sends "concerning signals", the U.S. Arctic ambassador said.
Russia and China have stepped up military cooperation in the Arctic while deepening overall ties in recent years that include China supplying Moscow with dual-use goods despite Western sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Russia and the United States are among eight countries with territory in the resource-rich Arctic. China calls itself a "near-Arctic" state and wants to create a "Polar Silk Road" in the Arctic, a new shipping route as the polar ice sheet recedes with rising temperatures.
Michael Sfraga, the United States' first ambassador-at-large for Arctic affairs, said the "frequency and the complexity" of recent military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing in the region sent "concerning signals".
"The fact that they are working together in the Arctic has our attention," Sfraga, who was sworn in last month, told Reuters in a telephone interview from Alaska. "We are being both vigilant and diligent about this. We're watching very closely this evolution of their activity."
"It raises our radar, literally and figuratively," he added.
Sfraga cited a joint run by Russian and Chinese bomber planes off the coast of Alaska in July, and Chinese and Russian coast guard ships sailing together through the Bering Strait in October.
He said these activities had been conducted in international waters, in line with international law, but the fact that the bombers flew off the coast of Alaska had raised concerns for U.S. security.
"We do need to think about security, heighten our own alliances, our own mutual defences," Sfraga said. "Alaska, the North American Arctic, is NATO's western flank and so we need to think about the Arctic that way."
The activity was also a concern for U.S. allies as the Bering Strait and the Bering Sea give access to the North Pacific and South Pacific, he said.
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South China Morning Post
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NY Post
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The Hill
The Pentagon said in a report released in July that the growing alignment between Russia and China in the Arctic was "a concern".
China and Russia are trying to develop Arctic shipping routes as Moscow seeks to deliver more oil and gas to China amid Western sanctions. Beijing is seeking an alternative shipping route to reduce its dependence on the Strait of Malacca.
The Arctic also holds fossil fuels and minerals beneath the land and the seabed that could become more accessible with global warming.
(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
US and China in 'robust conversation' on North Korea sending troops to Russia: Blinken
South China Morning Post
Fri, November 1, 2024 at 3:30 AM MDT
5 min read
72
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways
US and China are engaged in high-level dialogue regarding North Korea sending troops to Russia as the Kremlin wages war on Ukraine, America's top diplomat said on Thursday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described "a robust conversation" with China taking place this week about Moscow and Pyongyang's military cooperation in the Ukraine war.
Blinken urged Beijing to "do more" to curb "provocative" actions being taken by two of its closest partners.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
"I think they know well the concerns that we have and the expectations that, both in word and deed, they'll use the influence that they have to work to curb these activities. So we'll see if they take action," Blinken said of China after a meeting he and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin held with their South Korean counterparts in Washington.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul at the State Department in Washington on Thursday. Photo: Getty Images via AFP alt=US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul at the State Department in Washington on Thursday. Photo: Getty Images via AFP>
His remarks came after a New York Times report on Thursday said his deputy, Kurt Campbell, and other State Department officials met Chinese diplomats "for several hours" in the residence of Xie Feng, Beijing's envoy to Washington, on Tuesday.
Asked about the meeting, the Chinese embassy in Washington told the Post that China and the US "have always maintained regular, routine and normal communication on China-US relations and international and regional issues".
"China's position on the Ukraine crisis is consistent and clear. China strives for peace talks and political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. This position remains unchanged. China will continue to play a constructive role to this end," said spokesperson Liu Pengyu.
The Sino-American engagement came amid Washington and Kyiv's latest assessments that North Korean troops could see combat against Ukraine "in the coming days".
North Korean troops were reported last week to be in eastern Russia in a major escalation of the armed conflict that began in February 2022.
More in World
PSG still want to get Kylian Mbappé revenge with signing of Real Madrid star
Get Spanish Football News
Trump uses Diwali message to attack Harris and pledges to protect Hindus
South China Morning Post
Coming soon to America: Signs point to communist horrors of China’s Maoist past
NY Post
3 Democratic senators want answers on Israeli strikes that killed Lebanese armed forces
The Hill
Blinken said at least 8,000 North Korean soldiers were now in Russia's Kursk region and receiving training in "artillery, UAVs, basic infantry operations, including trench clearing".
This activity, the envoy continued, indicated that Russians "fully intend to use these forces in frontline operations".
Blinken warned that once North Korean troops engage in combat against Ukraine they would become "legitimate" military targets. And the US would closely consult its allies on what "actions" to take in response, he added.
But the Chinese foreign ministry last week said it was unaware whether North Korea had deployed troops to Russia.
When asked about what role it would play if there were escalations in Ukraine and the Korean peninsula as a result of Pyongyang's troop deployment, Beijing called for all parties to de-escalate tensions.
The ministry stated that China was always committed to peace on the peninsula and a political solution to the Ukraine conflict.
Since last year, Russia and North Korea have moved to bolster their military ties, with Pyongyang reportedly sending tens of millions of munitions to support the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine.
In exchange, Pyongyang has received Moscow's technological support for its tactical weapons.
China has largely refrained from commenting on Russia and North Korea's apparently growing closeness, saying it is an internal matter for the two countries.
Some analysts see their unprecedented level of direct military cooperation as putting Beijing in an awkward position.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un toast during a reception in Pyongyang on June 19, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images alt=Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un toast during a reception in Pyongyang on June 19, 2024. Photo: Sputnik/AFP/Getty Images>
Aside from the stigma of being grouped with Russia and North Korea, China's ties with the West have frayed over its alleged support of dual-use goods to the Kremlin.
Duyeon Kim of the Centre for a New American Security, a Washington-based think tank, said Beijing did not want regional tensions to escalate such that Moscow and Pyongyang's actions could trigger a response by the US.
"I do not expect China to overtly make some sort of public announcement or ... pressure North Korea and Russia publicly, although I would suspect it might do some of this pressuring quietly, discreetly, especially considering its strategic competition with the United States, its relationship with Russia," Kim said last week.
South Korean Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun on Thursday said Seoul believed Beijing could "intervene" if the two countries' military cooperation deepened.
"I think a more clear assessment is China is watching and waiting and if the situation worsens ... China either as a mediator or in any other role may be intervening," he said.
Austin urged China to ask Russia "some hard questions" as to whether it sought to escalate the Ukraine conflict when Beijing has professed it is "serious about its desire for de-escalation".
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko discussed the Ukraine conflict in Beijing.
The two countries reaffirmed their ties, calling them "not subject to interference", a week after President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin delivered the same message during the Brics summit in Kazan.
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