Canadian warship shadowed Chinese vessel off Alaska last month, National Defence says

A Chinese polar research vessel was shadowed by a Canadian warship in the Bering Strait off Alaska a few weeks ago, the Department of National Defence (DND) belatedly acknowledged Wednesday.

In a statement issued to multiple media organizations, the department said that the frigate HMCS Regina, which has since returned to its home port of Esquimalt, B.C., encountered the research vessel Xue Long (Snow Dragon) 2 as it transited the strait.

A statement from the department said both the frigate and its CH-148 Cyclone helicopter had safe and professional interactions with the Chinese vessel, which is believed to still be somewhere in the Far North.

The polar research ship was in the region as a U.S. Coast Guard cutter encountered a four-warship Chinese task force within the exclusive economic zone of the United States.

"The Chinese naval task group had no encounters with HMCS Regina," said DND spokesperson Frederica Dupuis. "To maintain the security of our missions and personnel, we will not disclose further specific operational details."

In a statement issued last month, the U.S. Coast Guard said it monitored the Chinese task force until it crossed back into the Pacific Ocean south of the Aleutian Islands.

HMCS Regina deployed on 'short notice'

Online vessel-tracking websites suggest HMCS Regina turned off its location transponder on July 13 upon entering the Bering Sea. The warship did not reappear until four days later, when it was spotted in the Arctic.

Similarly, online aircraft spotters suggest the Chinese research ship is being monitored by a Canadian CP-140 Aurora. The maritime patrol aircraft is flying missions out of Anchorage, Alaska to the region where Xue Long 2 has been operating.

According to a navy social media post, HMCS Regina was dispatched from its home port on "short notice" for a "brief but impactful deployment." All mention of the encounter with the Xue Long 2 was omitted from defence department statements until Wednesday.

The shadowing took place just days ahead of Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly's surprise visit to China. The minister went to Beijing in an attempt to repair the frosty diplomatic relationship between Canada and China.

DND did not answer CBC News' questions about why the frigate's encounter with the Xue Long 2 was not publicly acknowledged in previous statements.

Instead, Dupuis spoke about how the Arctic is becoming more accessible to foreign actors with growing capabilities and regional military ambitions.

"Competitors are not waiting to take advantage — seeking access, transportation routes, natural resources, critical minerals, and energy sources through more frequent and regular presence and activity," Dupuis said in an email statement.

"They are exploring Arctic waters and the seafloor, probing our infrastructure and collecting intelligence. We are seeing more Russian activity in our air approaches, and a growing number of Chinese dual-purpose research vessels and surveillance platforms collecting data about the Canadian North that is, by Chinese law, made available to China's military."

Defence expert Rob Huebert of the University of Calgary said that despite China's icebreaker-building program, he doesn't believe Beijing wants to be "a major hegemonic power" in the Arctic.

He said he believes the Chinese are operating patrols in the region to "keep the Americans as spread out as possible" and keep allies like Canada on their toes and distracted from Taiwan.

"If you're China, what you're trying to do is get just enough of a threat level up," Huebert said. "The Americans will have to say, 'We can't leave [the Arctic shipping lanes] unguarded.'"