中国海警队宣布了历史性的一次行动，他们首次进入北极洋海域，并与俄罗斯海警队进行联合巡逻，这是两国在北极这一战略地区加强合作的最新证据，也意味着北京长期寻求在此扩大影响力的举措取得了新的进展。
尽管官方并未公布具体的巡逻地点，但社交媒体上流传的照片显示了一艘舰艇上的横幅：“中国海警全心向党，忠诚展示于北冰洋”。这表明中国共产党的领导地位得到了明确的展现。目前，俄罗斯政府尚未正式承认这次行动，仅通过中央电视台进行了侧面证实。
值得注意的是，在此次联合巡逻发生前一天，美国海警队报告了一次类似的观察活动，发现四艘俄中船只在白令海域航行，这是美方历史上在北极区域内对中方舰艇进行的最北端观测。白令海峡是连接太平洋和北极洋的关键通道之一，位于俄罗斯与阿拉斯加之间。
此次巡逻显示出，“中国海警队的能力已经扩展到了以前较少涉及的海上航线”，有效提升了其在不熟悉水域执行任务的能力，并进行了全面性的测试。这一行动表明了中国海警队正致力于增强在北冰洋区域的任务执行能力，并且这一扩张不仅仅局限于地理空间，更是一种信号，向外部展示了中国的影响力。
美国太平洋舰队指挥官梅根·邓恩少将对此评价称：“这次活动反映出我们的战略竞争对手对北极日益增长的兴趣。”
中美在北极地区不断展开的互动引发了关注。除了军事活动之外，双方还在经济合作上保持着密切联系，并且有报道指出中俄两国海军曾在阿拉斯加海岸附近的国际水域进行了联合行动。
中国近年来一直积极寻求扩大其在北冰洋地区的影响力。作为一个“近北极国家”，中国加强了冰川、研究设施的建设，并对俄罗斯能源项目加大投入。尽管这一地区对俄罗斯的安全和军事实力同样重要，过去俄罗斯对过分接近感到警惕。但考虑到乌克兰战争引发的依赖问题，莫斯科对中国这一最重要的外交与经济伙伴越来越展现出开放态度。
美国国防部在七月份公布的北极策略更新中警告称：“俄罗斯与中国在该地区的合作增长可能会改变北极的稳定性和威胁图景。”
这次联合巡逻活动和夏季靠近阿拉斯加的行动，引起了关注：俄罗斯控制北极航道的努力是否开始受到经济利益与政治考量的压倒性影响。但是考虑到中俄两国在北极周边进行活动的地点，可以推断出“俄罗斯对掌握进入其北极水域通道的关切以及维护防御堡垒优先级”的持续存在。
挪威弗里德里克·尼尔森研究院高级研究员安德拉斯·奥斯特根对中国船只是否真正进入北冰洋持保留意见。他指出，“通常情况下，需要具备破冰能力”，并且美国海警队没有报告船只通过了被广泛视为北极起点的白令海峡。CNN已联系美军询问此事。
然而，他强调：“这仍然与中国在更广泛的北极地区进行活动相连，即使它不是北冰洋本身的一部分。”“中国在阿拉斯加州沿海或大白令海域活动，已经成为一种持续趋势，其目的是表明中国有能力在此或接近北极的区域存在。”
从经济利益的角度来看，这一联合巡逻与中国在北极航道上保护自身经济利益的需求密切相关。2018年，中国政府在其《北极政策》中概述了打造“极地丝绸之路”的愿景——通过开发穿越北冰洋并延伸至中国的航线将亚洲与欧洲连接起来。该航线夏季和秋季的航行条件正在随着气候变化而变得更具商业可行性。
在夏季和秋季航行期内，沿北冰洋航道进行的货物运输预计会创纪录，根据挪威北部大学附属北极物流中心最近的一份报告，在9月30日之前，通过该航线约95%的货量都从俄罗斯流向了中国。这一联合行动与两国在北极或近北极区域的不断深化合作相呼应，“反映了中国在此部分北冰洋海路上的利益”，也预示着未来的商业潜力。
这次合作不仅仅是对中国的军事姿态的一种展示，更体现了北京为保护和促进其经济利益而采取的实际步骤。随着北极航道日益成为全球贸易的重要通道，中俄在北极的合作正展现出不断发展的态势，并且显示出中国有能力与西方传统强权并肩，甚至在极地地区与之竞争的能力。
新闻来源：www.cnn.com
原文地址：China’s Coast Guard claims to have entered the Arctic Ocean for the first time as it ramps up security ties with Russia
新闻日期：2024-10-03
原文摘要：
China’s Coast Guard claimed it entered waters of the Arctic Ocean for the first time as part of a joint patrol with Russia – in the latest sign of enhanced coordination between the two in a region where Beijing has long wished to expand its footprint. The statement came a day after the US Coast Guard said it spotted four vessels from the Russian Border Guard and Chinese Coast Guard in the Bering Sea – the “northernmost” location it said it had ever observed the Chinese ships. The joint patrol “effectively expanded the scope of the coast guard’s ocean-going navigation” and tested their ability “to carry out missions in unfamiliar waters,” the China Coast Guard (CCG) said in a post on its official social media account Wednesday. The CCG did not release the exact location of the patrol. A banner visible on one of the vessels in accompanying photos read “China Coast Guard devoting its heart to the Party; demonstrating loyalty in the Arctic Ocean,” referring to China’s ruling Communist Party. The Russian government has not officially acknowledged the patrol, which Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said took place “a few days ago.” Russian state media TASS published a report on the patrol, citing the CCG statement. The US Coast Guard (USCG) on Monday said it spotted the four vessels from the Russian Border Guard and Chinese Coast Guard “transiting in formation in a northeast direction” in the Bering Sea, some five miles inside Russia’s Exclusive Economic Zone on Saturday. The Bering Sea stretches between Russia and Alaska and is part of the North Pacific Ocean. It connects to the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait, a narrow passage separating Asia and North America. “This recent activity demonstrates the increased interest in the Arctic by our strategic competitors,” Rear Adm. Megan Dean, commander of the 17th Coast Guard District, said in the USCG statement. The US has raised concerns about China’s growing role and coordination with Russia in the strategically and environmentally sensitive Arctic region, as the two countries tighten their security and economic ties more broadly. US and Canadian forces in July intercepted Russian and Chinese bombers flying together near Alaska for the first time, while their two navies operated together in international waters off the Alaskan coast in 2022 and 2023, according to the US military. Last year, CCG and Russia’s Federal Security Service, which operates its coast guard, agreed to strengthen their “maritime law enforcement cooperation” and China was invited to observe Russia’s “Arctic Patrol-2023” security drills. Analysts say the new patrol is part of a broader pattern of collaboration – and designed to send a message to Washington, whose maritime activities in the South and East China Seas have longed irked Beijing. “The significance of the (China) Coast Guard operating farther north than it has ever done implies (China) is extending its Coast Guard into areas the US has traditionally considered its own domain,” said Carl Schuster, a retired US Navy captain and former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center. “China in particular is signaling that the US Coast Guard is not the only one that (can) operate within and near other countries’ Economic Exclusion Zones from their own home waters,” he said. Arctic ambitions Beijing has for years sought to increase its footprint in the Arctic, declaring itself a “near Arctic state” and beefing up its icebreaker and research capabilities in the region, where it’s also heavily invested in Russian energy projects. Russia, as one of eight Arctic states, has historically been wary of being too welcoming to China in a region key to its own security and military power. But observers say Moscow’s increasing reliance on China – its most important diplomatic and economic partner – in the wake of its war on Ukraine may be changing that calculus. In its first update to its Arctic strategy in five years, the US Department of Defense in July warned that “growing cooperation” between Russia and China in the region has the “potential to alter the Arctic’s stability and threat picture.” The recent joint activities, including the July patrol near Alaska, raise questions of whether Russia’s focus on controlling access to the Russian Arctic is “increasingly overshadowed by economic and political considerations,” said Sophie Arts, a fellow with the German Marshall Fund of the US’s Geostrategy North team. “However, when it comes to growing Russian willingness to cater to Chinese interests, we have to take into account the location in which these activities are taking place,” she added, pointing to how the strategically peripheral patrol location suggests “Russian concerns about controlling access and maintaining its bastion (of) defense remain a priority.” Andreas Østhagen, a senior researcher at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute in Norway, expressed skepticism that Chinese vessels had operated in the Arctic Ocean proper. He said that operating north of the Bering Strait normally requires ice-breaking capabilities and noted that the US Coast Guard did not report the ships entered the Bering Strait, where the Arctic Ocean starts. CNN has reached out to the USCG for comment. “It still links to the wider Arctic region, even if this is not the Arctic Ocean. Operating off the coast of Alaska or in the Bering Sea at large is part of an ongoing trend where China is asserting its ability to be present in the Arctic, or near the Arctic,” he said. Economic interests The China Coast Guard is part of the country’s People’s Armed Police, which is under the command of the Central Military Commission – and it has frequently been at the frontline of China’s efforts to assert its territorial claims in disputed waters in the South China Sea. The Philippines, for example, has repeatedly accused the CCG of targeting its fishing and other ships with water canons and other tactics, including in what it described as a “brutal assault” with bladed weapons on Filipino forces in June. In addition to projecting strength, Beijing has a practical interest in expanding its cooperation with Russia and presence in far north waters, where its coast guard could in the future protect its economic interests, experts say. In its 2018 Arctic policy, Beijing described its vision for a “Polar Silk Road,” linking Asia to Europe by developing shipping routes like the Northern Sea Route across the Arctic and down to China. That route, now largely navigable only in summer and autumn, is expected to become more commercially viable for global shipping as climate change melts sea ice. Transit along the Northern Sea Route during the summer-autumn navigation season is poised to hit record levels of transit cargo by the season’s end, according to data from the Centre for High North Logistics affiliated with Norway’s Nord University. As of September 30, about 95% of the cargo volume along the route went from Russia to China, it said in a recent report. The coast guard collaboration “relates to Chinese interests in maritime transportation along at least parts of the Northern Sea Route,” according to Østhagen. “The fact that they have initiated these types of operations is yet another step in the ongoing practical cooperation between the two states in an Arctic or near-Arctic context.” And when taken alongside other recent joint operations, “this is all about expanding both the Chinese footprint in this part of the Arctic and China’s abilities to operate this far north,” he said.
