Updated Sunday, November 9, 2008 10:11 am TWN, By Peter Brookers, Special to The China Post

Polar region security issues heat up -- PART II

Canada, for one, is not standing idly by when it comes to the Arctic. Canadian scientists are building their own case for claims on the Lomonosov Ridge — and a second sub-surface mountain range in the West, called the Alpha Ridge, in the Beaufort Sea. In support of this, Ottawa also has announced plans to build six to eight medium-sized ships, capable of operating in ice 3 feet thick, to conduct Arctic patrols. Canada has one large and five light- to medium-sized icebreakers; all are reaching the end of their service lives. Some say the mid-sized ships may not be up to the task, instead calling for larger ships for the job of looking after Canada’s so-called “High North.” One skeptical Canadian politician said the new ships are more aptly called “slush-breakers.”

But that is not all. In August, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced plans to establish a deep-sea port on Baffin Island to support Canadian air and sea patrols in the region, especially the new-construction ships. Ottawa also plans to build a new winter fighting school at a base on Resolute Bay in the Northwest Passage, 400 miles south of the North Pole, affirming that Canada plans a growing — and long-term — presence in the Arctic.

While Canada reportedly has fewer than 200 soldiers and 1,500 volunteer indigenous Inuit rangers operating in the Arctic, providing security to more than 1.5 million square miles of Canadian territory, large-scale, joint exercises, such as the Nanook series, have increased. The commander of Joint Task Force North, which kicked off Nanook ‘08 in late September, said: “Our purpose is to exert sovereignty, demonstrate sovereignty and security, but also learn how to live off the land and learn more about the operating environment here in the north.”

A Canadian commission also recently recommended Ottawa establish a surveillance network to monitor activities in the Arctic as well as build a new research station near the Northwest Passage. Ottawa also wants recognition of its sovereignty over the Northwest Passage, the once-mythical route that offers the quickest and most economic waterway between Asia and Europe, eliminating the need for, and limitations imposed by, the Panama Canal. The route, which by some estimates might be navigable year-round by 2050, would shorten shipping distances between the two continents by more than 2,000 miles, cutting costs and travel time for sea cargo.

Peter Brookes is a Heritage Foundation senior fellow and a former deputy assistant secretary of defense who also served in the Navy, with the CIA and on Capitol Hill.

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