The summation is that they are looking very much forward. They are seeking to become a hegemon. In political science terms, that basically means they want to be the most dominant player in the international system, and that means that they have to have the ability to go to any region and to take advantage of having that ability to go into any region. The Arctic is part of that.
Unlike the Russians, the Chinese are not interested in the Arctic because it is a central strategic location for them. It is the central strategic location for Russia and the United States. If the Chinese are dealing with any of these other issues, such as Taiwan, Hong Kong or any of the issues that are of direct interest to the Chinese state, they want to be able to keep their enemies off guard. So what we see in the long term is that China wants to ensure that, first of all, it is a player in terms of the governance side of what is happening. It wants to ensure that it has the advantage of all the economic opportunities that are there, but, most critically, it wants to ensure that in the long term—and we always have to think long-term when we talk about China—it does not allow the Arctic to be a safe zone for the Americans and the Russians.
I want to stress that the relationship that the Chinese have with the Russians right now is a relationship of convenience, and in many ways in the longer term Russia actually has as much to fear from China as China becomes the great power in the region as, say, the Americans have to fear. Right now, because of the events of the war with Ukraine, starting, as you well know, in 2014, we see China taking advantage of that, but in the longer term, they want to have that dominant ability to ensure that they are the hegemon, and that includes being in the region of the Arctic.