China plans to build a polar trade route to Europe

China will build a "Polar Silk Road" and will be actively involved in the development of the Arctic and Antarctic regions. This is stated in a new five-year plan for 2021-2025, which the government published in Beijing on Friday. According to the plan, China will "participate in pragmatic cooperation at the North Pole" and "increase its participation in the protection and use of the South Pole". China is looking for sources of lucrative minerals as well as potential new shipping lanes in the Arctic, as the ice sheet recedes due to rising temperatures on Earth. In 2018, China published a so-called white paper outlining its plans to create new routes to transport cargo from Asia to Europe through the northeast, northwest and central Arctic regions, raising concerns about the region's fragile environment. Late last year, China also announced plans to launch a new satellite to track maritime routes and monitor changes in the Arctic sea ice. The satellite plans to launch in 2022.