China’s Plans For ‘Polar Silk Road’ In Arctic Ocean

PRC’s President Xi Jinping has stressed the objective of BRI saying that the new Belt and Road initiative would save the transit time by at least a week, an estimated 40 percent if China avoids the shipping lanes over Panama and Suez Canal as trade routes. China cited logistic costs optimization, and an increase on EU duties and good taxes that facilitate the need to ramp up the speed of transportation of cargos to consumers in the world as a reason to divert its traditional shipping route through the Arctic Ocean, which it believes will be ice-free by 2030s. Some of the components of the PSR, first announced in 2013, are already operational as China seeks to ease financial and logistical challenges for transporting fuel and goods cargoes from the potential Arctic states via the northern road. China’s BRI initiative’s target is to enhance strategic trade and economic partnership with Africa, Europe, and Eurasia via these trade routes.