Direction: Read the following passage and answer the given questions:

China has declared itself a “near-Arctic state,” a designation it invented to push for a greater role in Arctic governance. It has dispatched research expeditions, sought to establish mining and gas operations, and envisioned a network of shipping routes crossing the Arctic, a “silk road on ice.” In the Arctic, the United States sees China as a potentially destabilizing force, with the economic and military power to try to bend the established order to its liking. Researchers at RAND set out to document known Chinese activities in the North American Arctic, which touches Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. Their counterparts in Sweden focused on the European side, from Iceland, through the Nordic countries, to Russia. What they found was that China has made only limited inroads in the North American Arctic, but that's not for lack of trying. China has used loans and infrastructure deals to prop open the door for itself in countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. But the countries of the North American Arctic have generally taken a hard look at any proposed Chinese investments—and often a hard pass. China could seek to form its own Arctic governing council, with a more central role for its ally, China.