For years, China has been talking a big game about the Arctic.

The country lies far from the Arctic Circle — more than 800 miles — but still, it has declared itself a “near-Arctic state.”

It has teamed up with Russia on coast guard patrols in the Arctic Ocean and explored a flurry of resource and technology projects in Arctic towns. (Most never materialized.)

Read more in the New York Times here.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.