The “slow pace” of the Polar Silk Road

China has not allowed itself to be drawn into the controversy surrounding Trump's ambitions for Greenland. It is aware that in order to truly realise the “Arctic corridor”, it first needs to organise the logistics, identify viable routes and strengthen relations with Russia.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Russian sinologist Andrej Šarogradtskij, editor of Radio Svoboda and international observer, formerly a correspondent in Beijing, has sought to reflect on the reactions in China to Donald Trump's claims to take Greenland, mainly to defend himself from the threat of the Chinese, who aspire to control the most promising areas in the Arctic and Far North.

He recalls that in Chinese, the greeting “have a good trip” is expressed as “go slowly”, don't rush and be careful. This kind of approach seems appropriate in view of the global uproar over peaceful, frozen Greenland, which even seemed to shake the NATO alliance between the Americans and Europeans, only to be immediately forgotten in favour of focusing on events in Iran or the Epstein case. Having resumed the “slow pace”, according to the expert, now is the right time to analyse China's reactions to this very critical international situation.

Trump's bombastic statements seemed more like part of the American president's unpredictable and impulsive grand game than a real response to the urgent danger coming from Beijing, despite this being the justification repeatedly given by Trump himself.

It is the game of the ruling class in Washington, which intends to break up the entire world order, opposing the “liberal swamp” of those who fear sudden change. Beijing is actually looking with interest at Greenland and the far north, especially in relation to climate change, which is driving the search for new sea routes and the extraction of important mineral resources. This is the Polar Silk Road, also known as the “Glacial” Silk Road, which is certainly a very long-term strategy.

China's reaction to Trump's attacks, according to which Chinese ships are circling Greenland to occupy it, has therefore been very restrained, without strong statements or sudden movements, despite the accusations demanding immediate harsh responses.

Unlike Venezuela, with which China has long built very solid relations, Greenland is not a crucial issue for Beijing at the moment, and will not be for a long time to come.

In order to realise the “Arctic corridor”, a great deal of logistics still needs to be organised, viable routes identified, relations with Russia strengthened (without which it is not possible to exploit all the possibilities of these new prospects), and trade and energy policy diversified with all the countries of the global South, without sudden changes or risky conflicts, an approach that has been applied over the last twenty years in Africa and South America.

As Šarogradtskij summarises, China's strategy is not one of direct confrontation with the United States, but one of careful, quiet and systematic strengthening of its positions throughout the world.

The noise surrounding Greenland is nothing more than yet another sign that the world is becoming more complex and violent, and that geopolitics is increasingly built on the control of territories and strategic points, as also commented on in an article in Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper.

Even traditional Chinese patience is a way of intervening in changes to the world order, defending its own interests. The expert wonders to what extent this attitude can be effective, and does not feel able to give a definitive answer: Trump has little time to realise his plans, while Xi Jinping certainly has much more.

On the other hand, the rejection of the political system of change in power leads to the need to thoroughly clean up one's own caste of untouchables, as has been the case with China's senior military officials in recent times, in order to avoid the collapse of the regime. To the point that Šarogradtskij goes so far as to ask: will anyone have the courage to call China a “liberal swamp”?

• China
• Russia
• USA
• Greenland
• Arctic