Canadian officials are disputing reports in Chinese media that a sailor from that country attempting to circumnavigate the Arctic was turned back in the Northwest Passage.
On Monday, the state-owned China Global Television Network (CGTN) reported that Zhai Mo and his two-man crew travelling aboard a 25-metre solar-powered yacht had entered the Northwest Passage and were sailing across Baffin Bay.
CGTN reported Thursday that Zhai had been “illegally stopped” in the Lancaster Sound, an area not far from Greenland’s maritime border with Canada. The report said he would return to China via the Panama Canal.
Transport Canada told CBC News in an email on Friday that it was aware of Zhai’s vessel, but said “at this point, it has not entered Canada’s Arctic Waters.” Those waters have been off limits to foreign pleasure craft since March 2020 due to an interim order from the Canadian government intended to limit the risk of introducing COVID-19 in remote Arctic communities.
Transport Canada said it was in touch with Zhai via email to inform him of the rule.
“Transport Canada has since seen public reports that Captain Zhai Mo no longer plans to pass through Canadian Arctic waters and the department continues to monitor the situation,” the department said in a second statement to CBC News on Friday evening.
On the 76th day of the journey to circumnavigate the Arctic non-stop, Chinese captain Zhai Mo and his crew entered the Northwest Passage, marking the journey’s halfway point. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/China?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#China</a> <a href=”https://t.co/ofKgW3Z24z”>pic.twitter.com/ofKgW3Z24z</a>
Canada considers the Northwest Passage — a route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that weaves between the islands of Canada’s Arctic archipelago — part of its internal waters and subject to its laws, but the U.S. and some European countries dispute that claim.
China has not made its position on Canada’s control over the Northwest Passage clear. But a post to Zhai’s blog on the Chinese social media site Wiebo Thursday said “the international community generally believes that the Northwest Passage is a sea route used for international navigation” — meaning a right of free passage would apply under international conventions.
Zhai’s trip through the area was expected to last less than a week. But some experts say it nonetheless posed a challenge to Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic.
“[If] any … sailor that is eager to go through the Canadian Arctic can just do so without seeking permission … that in itself is a challenge to Canadian sovereignty,” said Andreas Østhagen, an Arctic expert with the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, a research foundation in Norway.
“It’s a challenge to the Canadian ability to be present in its own Arctic territories.”
New Zealander tried crossing Northwest Passage in 2020
Peter Smith of New Zealand seen aboard the Kiwi Roa. Reached by email in August 2020, Smith said completing a transit of the Northwest Passage is ‘unfinished business’ after he failed a similar attempt in 2018. (PeterSmith.net.nz)
Transport Canada told CBC News it fined Smith for violating the ban, though it did not specify the amount.
Experts like University of Calgary political scientist Rob Huebert say controlling traffic in the Northwest Passage is key to Canada’s claim that they are internal waters — a claim disputed by the United States and other maritime powers that want commercial vessels to have a right of free passage on the route.
“Canada claims that the Northwest Passage are internal waters, and we do so so we can exert control over vessels that are not in our interest,” Huebert said.
In the case of vessels violating the ban, he argues, there are “clear security issues, and we should do everything we can to stop [them].”
Who is Zhai Mo?
Zhai is a professional painter, known in China for his impressionist art. Inspired by Paul Gauguin’s paintings of Tahitian women, he took up sailing so he could travel to the tropical island in the South Pacific.
In 2009, he became the first Chinese person to complete a solo, sail-powered circumnavigation of the world. Zhai claimed his non-stop, sail-powered circumnavigation of the Arctic would also be a first.
A photo of Zhai Mo working on a boat, posted on his personal blog in 2015. (blog.sina.com.cn/zhaimo)
In interviews, Zhai has frequently framed his long voyages as a quasi-spiritual pursuit of artistic inspiration. He told the United Nations his Arctic journey was to “raise awareness about the links between climate change and land degradation.”
But Zhai has also at times used his journeys to advance China’s global ambitions.
In 2013, escorted by the Chinese coast guard, he sailed to contested waters in the East China Sea and planted 100 Chinese flags offshore of the disputed Senkaku/Daiyou Islands.
“Even though we were just a few people on a sailboat, we voiced our opinions to the people of Japan and other countries,” China’s Global Times quoted Zhai as saying. “We got there and we claimed our sovereignty.”
In 2015, he undertook a journey along the so-called Maritime Silk Road to advertise China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a policy designed to spread the country’s international influence through billions of dollars in global infrastructure investments.
Zhai’s journey through the Arctic, which kicked off in Shanghai on June 30, has likewise received extensive coverage in Chinese state-owned media, and particularly on CGTN, which has embedded cameras on board his ship and refers to Zhai as “our sailor.”
Sovereignty concerns
Zhai’s journey comes as China increases its efforts to project greater influence on a melting Arctic.
In 2018, with the publication of its Arctic strategy, China declared itself a “near-Arctic” state. Internally, it describes the Arctic as a region “ripe for rivalry and extraction,” according to an analysis by the Brookings Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think-tank.
The midnight sun shines across sea ice along the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago in this file photo from July 2017. Canada considers the waters of the Arctic archipelago — an area about twice the size of Texas — part of its internal waters. The claim is contested by the United States, not least because this would give Ottawa the right to stop ships from freely traveling through the Northwest Passage. (David Goldman/The Associated Press)
Its proposed Polar Silk Road is to encourage greater commercial travel through the Arctic, and the China Ocean Shipping Company, which is sponsoring Zhai’s voyage, has already undertaken numerous test sailings of Russia’s Northern Sea Route, a passage that runs along the northern coast of Eurasia.
Polar experts like Østhagen doubt Zhai’s journey was a deliberate attempt to test Canadian claims to Arctic sovereignty. But it may serve other purposes for China’s Arctic ambitions.
“It is a national attempt by China to write itself into the Arctic’s history,” wrote Elizabeth Buchanan, an expert in polar geopolitics at Australia’s Deakin University.
A celebrated Chinese icon circumnavigating the Arctic would be a powerful symbol, Buchanan says, which could boost support for further actions in the region.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Darcy Kuemper made 16 saves for his first shutout of the season and 32nd overall, helping the Los Angeles Kings beat the Nashville Predators 3-0 on Monday night.
Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist and Anze Kopitar and Kevin Fiala also scored. The Kings have won two of their last three.
Juuse Saros made 24 saves for the Predators. They are 1-2-1 in their last four.
Kopitar opened the scoring with 6:36 remaining in the opening period. Saros denied the Kings captain’s first shot, but Kopitar collected the rebound below the goal line and banked it off the netminder’s skate.
Fiala, a former Predator, made it 2-0 35 seconds into the third.
The Kings held Nashville to just three third-period shots on goal, the first coming with 3:55 remaining and Saros pulled for an extra attacker.
Elsewhere in the NHL on Monday:
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DEVILS 3 OILERS 0
EDMONTON, Alta. (AP) — Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his NHL career, helping the New Jersey Devils close their western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored. The Devils improved to 8-5-2. They have won three of their last four after a four-game skid.
Calvin Pickard made 13 saves for Edmonton. The Oilers had won two straight.
