China’s semi-official Global Times issued an editorial rejection of the move to declare the Arctic, and specifically the Northern Sea Route (NSR), the “front line of global power competition,” in the words of EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. The Times of London had also published an analysis of this new provocation, claiming that Russia and China represent a strategic threat because of their alleged efforts to “dominate” the NSR—which is, in reality, in Russian territory.

The editorial points to the hypocrisy of the “warning,” noting that the U.S. has moved to dominate Greenland, creating a threat to Europe, but adding that “the EU avoids open confrontation with Washington and instead targets China and Russia, ignoring prospects for win-win Arctic cooperation.”