The Research On Russia's Arctic Development And Its Effects

Since the beginning of the 21 st century,the Arctic issue has become a hot topic around the world.A growing number of countries have paid attention to the economic value of the Arctic due to the melting of glaciers caused by global warming and the continuously high international energy prices.Countries around the Arctic and outside this region began draw up blueprints for the development of the Arctic,because they have recognized the Arctic's huge economic potentials and their own geopolitical status in this area.Under the background of globalization,the development of the Arctic region is a comprehensive reflection of the Arctic countries' national power.It is a key issue that whether a country can adopt reasonable development policies to adapt to the trend of economic changes and make full use of its own advantages during the development of the Arctic.Russia is the largest country with longest coastline in the Arctic,it has made positive policies and achieved certain results in terms of the development of the Arctic after a long process.In fact,it is meaningful that what Russia has done in order to develop the Arctic since the beginning of the 21 st century,the gestation stage,to the current intensified operation stage.Therefore,this paper attempts to conduct a macroscopic study of Russia's Arctic development after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.To be specific,this paper aims to explore the development routes and logic of Russia's Arctic strategy,especially the development policies since the 21 st century.The main study objects of this paper are representative shipping lanes,oil and gas resources development,and the construction of "support zones".This paper analyzed and summarized past ten years' development of Russian Arctic region based on the theory of factor endowment,"growth pole" and sustainable development.This paper found that Russia's Arctic development has been carried out under the background of its Arctic strategy.The major two themes of Russia's Arctic development are security and development,which are interrelated and complementary.Factors that have an inseparable relationship with development are as followed,including the military security of nuclear deterrence in Arctic regions,the territory security by continental shelf division,the channel security by controlling of northern channel access,the security of exploiting natural resources,people's living standards,social security and ecological safety of protecting climate environment.Therefore,under the logic of Arctic strategy,the path of Russian Arctic development is mainly manifested in the implementation of economic,social,ecological and security policies under the guidance of development motivation and realistic goals.Along with this path,the trend of Russian Arctic development is from general ideas to key fields due to the changeable situation domestic and abroad,from broad scope to specific projects,from extensive mode to sustainable development,and from unilateral control to international cooperation.At present,certain areas of Arctic development are advancing in a favorable trend.Since the 21 st century,the Russian federation has adopted social security policies including investment and tax concessions,digital healthcare,housing placement and education,environmental protection policies such as strengthening ecological monitoring,eliminating accumulation of pollutants and protecting residence's traditional living ways,and region security policies including military strengthening deployment and emergency reactions during the development.Under the background of these policies,Russia has carried out both common and characteristic developments in northern channels,oil and gas resources exploitation and support zones' construction.Firstly,the development of these three fields is related to the national economic level,the world pattern and the global economic development,and determined by Russia's economic prosperity.Secondly,the relationship of these three is mutually promoting,since the main goods transported in the northern waterway are concentrated in the field of energy and resources,and the degree of energy and resources exploitation and the progress of "support zone" project construction directly affect the efficiency of waterway traffic.The characteristics of northern channel,the exploitation of oil and gas and the construction of support zones are mainly reflected in the different modes,directions and evaluation methods.First of all,in terms of development mode and direction,according to the characteristics of resource endowment,Russia has constructed the management framework of the waterway,standardized the legal system of general navigation,and developed all kinds of transportation means,infrastructure and information support.According to the characteristics of resource endowment,this paper analyzed the oil and gas resources of the Arctic land and the continental shelf,summarized the strategic management model of oil and gas complex as well as the international exploration model,and explored the developing direction of oil and gas in the future.On the basis of the growth pole theory,this paper pointed out some key constructing areas in order to promote the construction of the northern channel and the development of energy and resources.Although the outlines of these areas are vague,they are still the forward-looking areas aimed at realizing the strategic interests of the Russian Arctic and safeguarding Russia's national security.In addition,this paper utilized different evaluation method in terms of the northern channel,the oil and gas resources and the support zones.To be specific,this paper analyzed the utilization rate of the Northern Route by the total cargo traffic,transit cargo traffic,the cargo traffic of important ports,and the economic income brought to Russia by the icebreaker operation.The efficiency of oil and gas exploitation was analyzed from the perspective of the share of resources exploitation in the Arctic region,the amount of exploitation,the volume of transportation to major partner countries as well as the promotion of substitution of domestic technology and equipment imports.Due to the late implementation,there are only limited achievements of the support zones according to the evaluation criteria,including the implementation stage of the whole plan,the development process of the project,and whether there is a mineral industrial cluster or not.After analyzing the development process and effectiveness in term of channels,oil and gas,and support zones,this paper found that Russia has achieved positive results in their major developing fields of the Arctic region.Compared with the achievements,there are more obstacles from various aspects,which are difficult to overcome in a short time.In general,Russia has faced increased difficulties in developing the Arctic,due to the prolongation of international economic sanctions,the serious imbalance of the industrial structure,the continued poor investment environment,the continuous reduction of labor resources,the expectations of regional conflicts,and the fragility of ecological environment.Specifically,advantages of the Arctic channels have been weakened due to the crisis of the international shipping industry,the decline in oil and gas prices,the competition with traditional shipping routines,and harsh weather conditions.In terms of the extraction of oil and gas,some originally planned projects are difficult to continue,because Russian Federation taking energy security into consideration has restricted both domestic and overseas corporations' participation.Moreover,it is difficult for “support zones” to have a balanced development,owing to the imbalance of financial support from Russian Federation among different support zones,the difficulties in raising funds for construction,and the huge gap of development level among different regions.The importance of Arctic development for Russia has provided a basis for other countries who are going to carry out Arctic activities.In order to maximally create an international environment and atmosphere conducive to the development of the Arctic.Russia has strengthened the cooperation with countries in and outside the Arctic with a peaceful and open attitude.It can be said that the effectiveness of Russia's Arctic development and the overcoming of existing problems largely depend on the development of international cooperation.However,influenced by the Western sanctions,the cooperation projects between Russia and the United States or Europe may be postponed or stalled.Under such circumstances,it is necessary and feasible for China and Russia to achieve full cooperation in the Arctic development from strategic dockings to practical operations,due to the consistency and complementarity of common interests in developing the Arctic area.Even though there are some constrains in the cooperation of Arctic development between China and Russia,in the long run,Sino-Russian Arctic cooperation is likely to be a new highlight among two countries' cooperating relationships.Moreover,under the complex and changeable international atmosphere,Sino-Russian Arctic cooperation would be helpful in establishing a winwin cooperation,advocating the idea of “Community with a shared future for mankind”,achieving the goal of sustainable development.