The Belt & Road Initiative may reach the Arctic

China is planning to enrich the trade paths of the Belt & Road Initiative, with a new Arctic Silk Road. The project submitted by the vice-minister Kong Xuanyou, who during its presentation defined it as a great opportunity of “social and economic development” for all the countries involved, is explained in the White Book on the Chinese politics about the Arctic.

It is to be noticed, that the Arctic, with almost 25% of unexploited fossil sources of Earth, is currently one of the areas of greater geopolitical interest. For this reason, apart from the already acquired support of Russia, China’s project has already met the mistrust of most western countries.

However, the project remains of great interest at an International level. In fact, the opportunity of navigating without the help of any ice breaker-ship, tested with success by a Russian freight that last year reached South Korea from Norway in almost 20 days, certainly constitutes a key factor in speeding up the trades between China and Northern Europe. The new route will allow to diminish of more than a half the time currently needed to reach the main commercial port of the North European region. The official data is 20 days against an average of 48.

The new Shanghai – Rotterdam maritime route will take only 20 days against the 48 required for going through the Indian Ocean, the Suez passage and the Mediterranean Sea.