BEIJING, August 22. /TASS/. The United States is increasingly seeking to ensure its dominance in the Arctic, which heightens the risk of conflict in this region, Zhang Yao, deputy director of the Academic Committee and senior researcher of the Shanghai Center for RimPac Strategic and International Studies believes.

"As the US increasingly views the Arctic as an arena of great-power competition and relies ever more heavily on military means to maintain its dominance, the region has gradually become a new hotspot of geopolitical confrontation. This has heightened tensions and raised the risks of conflict," he wrote in an article published in the Global Times.

According to the expert, Washingon seems intent on treating the Arctic as its "hegemonic preserve," which in fact "does not belong to the private domain" of the United States. He recalled that, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and other relevant international treaties, China and all other countries are fully entitled to conduct scientific research and other legitimate activities in the Arctic, however, the United States' overreaction to the activities of China and others in the region "ultimately reflects a classic hegemonic mindset."

Zhang noted that the American administration is placing an ever greater emphasis on the militarization of the Arctic, where the presence and activities of Russia and China are viewed by the United States as a threat. In particular, the expert points to the Pentagon's increasingly frequent military exercises in the region, while Washington hypes up the so-called "China threat" in the Arctic." Zhang noted that Alaska, the US Arctic territory, has become one of its most important military bases, with advanced weapons, which "deepens NATO's confrontation with Russia in the Arctic."

"Since the Donald Trump administration took office, Washington's focus on the Arctic has intensified," Zhang writes. "The Trump administration's renewed Arctic focus stems partly from economic considerations: the US has long emphasized traditional energy development and its associated benefits."

The Chinese political scientist recalled that with Europe cutting energy ties with Russia following the Ukraine conflict, it has been forced to import costly US energy. The Arctic's rich resources, including its reserves of rare earth metals, "fit neatly into the US' energy agenda."

"Strategically, enhancing US military deployments in the Arctic and attempts to achieve military superiority there are also important tools for containing Russia," Zhang Yao emphasized.