For the past few years, the Arctic has become an indispensable element of the Chinese foreign policy discourse. This article is meant to explore the essence and the character of Beijing’s regional aspirations and how they relate to Russian regional strategy. Despite a genuine interest of Chinese organizations in contributing to transformations of the political and economic landscape of the Arctic, one could argue, that polar affairs so far do not constitute a matter of the first and foremost concern for Beijing’s diplomacy. The balance of regional interests between China and Russia is differing from one issue to another. The maximum synergy has been achieved in the LNG production area - here Russia is playing the role of an ideal supplier, while China provides maximum demand for this commodity and the lion’s share of required project financing. However, Russian oil & gas companies are well aware of risks emerging from over-dependency on Chinese investments. So, in the course of designing future Arctic pro