China is testing whether the top of the world can become a new strategic trade corridor, launching regular seasonal container service to Europe through Russia’s Arctic as Beijing and Moscow deepen their commercial and military footprint in a region Washington increasingly views as critical to U.S. security.

The service remains limited in scale, with just over eight voyages planned this season, but China analyst Gordon Chang told Fox News Digital that its significance goes beyond the number of containers currently making the journey.

"China has a major strategic push on the Arctic for various reasons," Chang said in an interview. "Arctic ice is melting, and this means that the Northern Sea Route, which hugs Russia's north coast, does become viable at least for a few months in the summer."

Sea Legend Shipping’s Dubai Tower departed Ningbo-Zhoushan Port on Aug. 15 for Europe via Russia’s Northern Sea Route, with the journey to Felixstowe, England, scheduled to take about 20 days, Arctic LNG 2 project, while China and Russia are developing year-round commercial shipping along the Northern Sea Route. The two countries have also established a joint venture to manufacture ice-class container vessels, with the first ship planned to enter service in 2027.

Moscow is now making increasingly aggressive use of the same Arctic passage to move oil east.

Reuters reported Aug. 11 that Russia had sent seven crude shipments totaling roughly 6 million barrels toward Asia through the Northern Sea Route so far this season, nearly half the amount transported during the entire 2025 season. China is the principal destination for those shipments, according to Reuters.

The growing Arctic activity comes as Washington has become increasingly concerned about Chinese and Russian cooperation close to Alaska.

Chang pointed to the Bering Strait — separating Russia from Alaska — as a strategic vulnerability even on the Arctic route.

"There is one choke point though, which is of interest," he said. "You have to go between Russia on the west and our 49th state on the east. And that gives the U.S. some leverage over here."

The military relationship is also expanding. The new USCC fact sheet says China and Russia had participated in at least 119 combined military exercises as of April 2026, while their joint naval operations in July included submarine, anti-submarine and drone activity. It also noted that Chinese bombers entered the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone for the first time during a joint China-Russia bomber patrol in 2024.

For Chang, the issue extends beyond whether the Northern Sea Route itself ever becomes a competitor to Suez.

"There are some U.S. national security strategists who say, ‘Oh, the Arctic is a distraction. There are more important places in the world,’" Chang said.

"But even more important, regardless of what one thinks of the importance of the Arctic, the Chinese and the Russians are pressing us in the Arctic," he added. "So we've got no choice to respond. Whether we think the Arctic is strategic or not, the Chinese and Russians are there in force. We have to be there too."

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Chinese and Russian embassies in Washington and the White House for comment.