Speaking to Breaking Defence, retired Navy strategist Bryan Clark, who is now with the Center for Strategic & Budgetary Assessments refuted the comparison made by the US Coast Guard Commandant.
“Today, there are some competing claims, but … it’s an orderly process and no one is building islands, drilling in someone else’s potential EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone), or harassing each other’s vessels,” he said.
“Unlike the South China Sea, the Arctic will not be a transit area for 30-40 per cent of world trade, will not be adjacent to the homes of more than one billion people, and not subject to multiple overlapping and unresolvable claims.”