The Red Dragon in Global Waters: The Making of the Polar Silk Road

Abstract

China’s rise to a global economic superpower is one of the most significant megatrends of current times. As a result of the country’s latest global strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative (一带一路), China’s geo-economic outreach is particularly visible in maritime transport. This chapter discusses the making of the Polar Silk Road (冰上丝绸之路)—a shipping corridor consisting of three major sea lanes running through Arctic waters—as an empirical case study to explore China’s involvement in global shipping. In particular, the chapter identifies four categories of corridor-making practices, ways through which Chinese maritime actors are advancing the emerging of a geo-economic space that connects China with Arctic localities. Ranging from physical facilitation to enabling a smooth flow of traffic, these sets of practices are shaped by both the external politico-economic environment and the domestic interplay between the Chinese central government, local governments, and Chinese companies and scholars.