The First Sea Lord has warned that China will exploit new sailing routes to the Atlantic that are being opened up as a result of melting polar ice caps. In a speech on board the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales Admiral Tony Radakin said the effects of climate change on the northern sea passage would create “new maritime trade routes across the top of the world” which would halve “the transit time between Europe and Asia”. Admiral Radakin said: “When China sails its growing Navy into the Atlantic, which way will it come, the long route, or the short?” He cautioned that the free movement of “nations, their navies, and above all their merchant ships” could be put at risk when China starts to use these routes as it would “threaten this concept” of free maritime movement. “The world is getting more competitive, more contested,” he added. “We will have to play our role in that world. As the High North becomes more open and accessible it’s going to be more contested and competitive as well.”
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