Oh good grief. China isn't even an Arctic nation, yet they are going to have more operating icebreakers than the United States.
From The Barents Observer, December 10:
The design of the icebreaker is to be completed in 2025 and used for rescues alongside China’s “Polar Silk Road” trade route, as a part of the country’s grander Belt and Road Initiative.
China’s Ministry of Transport has published a policy note presenting their plans to build a new heavy icebreaker which is expected to be used in the Arctic. The policy note also outlines China’s need for a 100,000-ton semi-submersible heavy lift vessel akin to the one that is currently delivering prefabricated modules to Russia’s liquified neutral gas (LNG) plants in the Arctic from the Zhoushan yard in China. Development reports indicate that this vessel will be able to rescue and salvage other vessels in the Arctic.
A vessel of this magnitude would be a great competition even to the largest semisubmersible heavy lift ships currently in service. These vessels are yet another pitstop on China’s way towards their enhanced polar exploration, the Polar Journal reports.
The vessels fit into their latest five-year development plan, which aims to increase China’s presence in the Arctic through the utilization of specialized vessels, including lift vessels as well as icebreakers....
If interested here is Xinhua's translation of January 2018s "Full text: China's Arctic Policy" you'll note they call themselves a ‘Near-Arctic state’.
