Map of the Arctic region showing shipping routes Northeast Passage, Northern Sea Route, and Northwest Passage, and bathymetry, Arctic Council, by Susie Harder
NORTHCOM’s online magazine, The Watch reports,
Adm. Rob Bauer, chair of NATO’s military committee … is concerned that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will try to convert its current shipping through Russia’s Northern Sea Route into a military presence in the Arctic.
“We know there are military scientists on board these ships,” Adm. Rob Bauer, who chairs NATO’s military committee, told Bloomberg News on 21 October 2023. “They haven’t said they won’t go there militarily.”
The US does have a strong geographic position, in that it holds one side of the narrow Bering Strait through which any shipping (including submarines) using the direct route between the Pacific and the Arctic must pass.
The question remains, is the US strong enough to hold and exploit its geographic advantage in the event of a major conflict.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 
China has been planning and expanding into the Arctic for I think well over a decade, if memory serves me correctly China has more Ice Breakers than the US. About time someone woke up