CNN: Now, as a US-led conflict – this time in the Middle East – has stranded oil and gas tankers and throttled global trade, China and Russia have been gearing up for what could be a record season along this alternative shipping route at the top of the globe.
For China, that also means a banner year in a region where it’s long wanted to expand its presence as a self-proclaimed “near-Arctic state” – and where melting ice could open up longer seasons and more routes in the decades to come…