ABSTRACT
With changing climatic conditions on the one hand, and favourable geographical factors on the other, the Northern Sea Route (NSR) has the promising prospect of becoming a competitive international transport alternative. First, this chapter elaborates on recent efforts by the Russian Federation to promote accessibility to and navigation on the NSR by removing some legislative constraints on its international use. The Russian Federation’s accommodating attitude towards NSR use through the legislative development aligns with China’s economic and strategic incentives to cooperate with the Russian Federation for NSR development. Second, this chapter conducts an analysis of both states’ Arctic policies and the “One Belt One Road Initiative’ proposed by China. The analysis reveals that the Sino-Russian NSR cooperation will benefit the economic and political strategies of both states within and beyond the Arctic.
