CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -Another important driver of China’s Arctic policy remains the SLOCs. The Belt and Road Initiative expansion to the Arctic region is built particularly on the promotion of maritime operations through the NSR along the Russian coast in the Arctic Ocean .

Detailed explanation-2: -The Polar Silk Road refers to the navigable Arctic Sea routes connecting three major economic centers, North America, East Asia, and Western Europe, via the Arctic Circle.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Silk Road began in north-central China in Xi’an (in modern Shaanxi province). A caravan track stretched west along the Great Wall of China, across the Pamirs, through Afghanistan, and into the Levant and Anatolia. Its length was about 4, 000 miles (more than 6, 400 km).

Detailed explanation-4: -China would now participate in a pragmatic cooperation on the Arctic and build a Polar Silk Road as a part of their 14th Five year plan for national economic and social development and its long term objectives till 2035. There are two major routes that exist through the arctic ocean.

Detailed explanation-5: -China’s concept of the “Polar Silk Road” – introduced in its first official Arctic White Paper in 2018 – involves creating new freight routes linking East Asia, Western Europe and North America through the Arctic Circle.