From Catching Mice to Breaking Ice: Understanding China’s Arctic Ambitions

China is not an Arctic state. It has no territory in the Arctic region, and its nearest point of land to the Arctic Circle is some 900 miles away. China’s 2018 claim to being a “near-Arctic state” was met with a combination of bemusement and ridicule from the international community, and Beijing has subsequently dropped this phrase from their messaging.1 Nonetheless, China’s ambition to become an Arctic player is significant and enduring, and the eight actual Arctic states are taking it increasingly seriously.