INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
opens the region to greater competition over maritime routes and resources."We've seen growing cooperation between the PRC and Russia in the
Arctic commercially, with the PRC being a major funder of Russian energy exploitation in the Arctic," Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen
Hicks told journalists, using an abbreviation for the People's Republic of China.There is also growing military cooperation, "with Russia
and China conducting joint exercises off the coast of Alaska," Hicks said as the department released its 2024 Arctic strategy."All of these
challenges have been amplified because the effects of climate change are rapidly warming temperatures and thinning ice coverage, and it's
enabling all of this activity," she said.Washington's Arctic strategy describes it as "a strategically important region" for the United
States that includes "the northern approaches to the homeland" and "significant United States defense infrastructure."Russia has in recent
years beefed up its military presence in the Arctic by reopening and modernizing several bases and airfields abandoned since the end of the
Soviet era, while China has poured money into polar exploration and research.The rapid melting of polar ice has sent activity in the
inhospitable region into overdrive as nations eye newly viable oil, gas and mineral deposits, as well as shipping routes in an area with a
complex web of competing territorial claims."The Arctic may experience its first practically ice-free summer by 2030, and the loss of sea
ice will increase the viability of Arctic maritime transit routes and access to undersea resources," the United States Arctic strategy
says."Increases in human activity will elevate the risk of accidents, miscalculation, and environmental degradation," and United States
forces "must be ready and equipped to mitigate the risks associated with potential contingencies in the Arctic."
