Chinese tourists at the North Pole. Photo: Maksimilian / Shutterstock.com
Editor?s note: Luxury travel to the Arctic and Antarctica has become de rigueur among Chinese elites who have already been to Paris and New York. What began as affluent adventuring could now serve China?s geopolitical goals. This story was originally published on Jing Travel.
China released its first Arctic Policy White Paper (???????) last week in a move that caught international media attention and prompted criticism over Chinese geopolitical overreach.
In the White Paper, China dubbed itself a ?near-Arctic state,? which it defines as an ?important stakeholder? that is impacted by changes in the Arctic. Of course, China has no territory inside the Arctic Circle, nor any coastline in the region. What it does have, however, is a growing number of citizens who visit the Arctic region each year. With China?s ambitions in the region now clearly spelled out, expect this number to grow even faster in coming years. To make things even more interesting from a tourism perspective, China envisions its Arctic ambitions as a part of its clumsily-named One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, calling it a ?Polar Silk Road,? akin to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road that OBOR is referring to.
While OBOR, a possibly trillion-dollar project, is about much more than tourism, Chinese tourism has nevertheless been touted as one of the main benefits for OBOR-partnerships throughout Eurasia. The ra...