U.s. Arctic Strategic Studies

As global warming accelerates the melting of polar ice, the value of the Arctic, in terms of geo-strategy, natural resources, shipping and scientific research, becomes increasingly prominent, which leads to fierce competition in the Arctic region among the Arctic countries. The United States, a major power of the world, has a wide range of strategic interests in the area, such as security, energy, resources and economics.To achieve and defend these strategic interests, the U.S. government issued official documents, "the United States Arctic Policy Directive", with respect to the Arctic region, respectively in 1983, 1994 and 2009. National Security Presidential Directive–66/ Homeland Security Presidential Directive–25, signed before President Bush left office in 2009, marked the formation the U.S. Arctic strategy. It reveals the following characteristics: security being the core interests; emphasis on limited international cooperation; significant attention to the coordination of resource exploitation and environmental protection; great stress on scientific investigation and communication.To promote the implementation of the Arctic strategy, the U.S. government has taken the following latest actions: urging to become a member the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS); sending the Great Green Fleet to the Arctic Ocean; launching the program of"Road map for the Arctic"; making the State Council the leader of the Arctic Expedition. However, in the competition for Arctic interests, due to the great importance of the Arctic region, the United States will inevitably encounter the following problems: strategic conflicts with Russia, Canada and the European Union; contradictions between resources exploitation and environmental protection; dilemma between the militarization of the Arctic and regional security maintenance.The United States Arctic Strategy enlightened us that, in order to safeguard our long-term interests in the Arctic, China should make itself heard in the fierce competition for Arctic interests.