Canada disputes Chinese news report that famous sailor was turned back from Northwest Passage

Canadian officials are disputing reports in Chinese media that a sailor from that country attempting to circumnavigate the Arctic was turned back from 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.

On Friday, Transport Canada told CBC News in an email that it was aware of Zhai's vessel, but that "at this point, it has not entered Canada's Arctic Waters." The statement says Transport Canada could not presently confirm "the status of the vessel."

Zhai's planned trip through the Northwest Passage would violate a ban on "adventure-seeking pleasure craft" in the waterway, which Canada implemented in March 2020 to limit the risk of introducing COVID-19 in remote Arctic communities.

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.