113
Arctic Yearbook 2013
Kopra
2015, and CO
2
emissions by 17%, respectively. The government has also started to restructure
China‘s economy in order to balance economic growth with environmental protection (Wu 2013,
May 25). In 2012, a draft for Climate Change Law in China was published, and a nationwide carbon
emission trading system is planned to be established in the next Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) (Xinhua
2012, December 6). Obviously, there are still many problems, notably China‘s poor energy efficiency
and heavy reliance on coal, and there are no expectations China‘s overall emissions will reduce in the
near future. Various Chinese scholars, think tanks, and research groups predict China‘s emissions
will peak between 2020 and 2050.
Science
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the USA, New Zealand, Japan and Australia ―gave crucial
support‖ to enable China to establish its own Antarctic research programme (Brady, 2012: 104). In
1980, two Chinese scientists took part in Antarctic research activities organised by Australia, and in
1981, the Office of the National Antarctic Expedition Committee (later the Chinese Arctic and
Antarctic Administration) was established (the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration, 1999).
In 1983, China joined the Antarctic Treaty, and in 1984, China organised its first scientific
expedition to the Antarctic. In 1985, China‘s first Antarctic station was established, followed by a
second station in 1989, and a third in 2009.
10
However, China‘s overall investments in Antarctic
research stayed relatively modest until 2005, when the government doubled the Antarctic affairs
budget (Brady, 2012: 104). Since 1988, academic works on ―Arctic glaciology, climatology,
oceanographic science, upper atmospheric physics, as well as on the Arctic biological and
environmental studies‖ started to appear in China (Alexeeva & Lasserre, 2012: 81). Since the early
1990s, China has sent scientists to the Arctic to ―collect data and samples, join in multinational
projects, and gain experiences‖ (the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration, 1999). Since 1994,
the Chinese have conducted expeditions both in the Arctic and Antarctic regions on-board the
research ice-breaker
Xuelong
(Snow Dragon), which was built in Ukraine in 1993. The first, and only,
Chinese Arctic scientific research station was founded in 2004 in Ny-Ålesund, Spitsbergen
Archipelago of Norway. And from March 2007 to March 2009, a group of Chinese scientists
participated in the International Polar Year programme (Feng, 2007).
The primary interest of Chinese polar research is to gain better understanding of climatic changes in
the Arctic and their impacts on China. Therefore, China‘s research ―not only concerns China's
economic and social development, but also helps deepen humanity's knowledge of climate change‖
(
China Daily
, 2012, February 1). In 2007, Guo Peiqing, professor of the Law and Politics School,
Ocean University of China, suggested that China should not limit its Arctic research only to natural
sciences but broaden its research and strategic agenda. ―Polar issues are not only a question of
natural sciences though it is more like an issue of human society, including dimensions of politics,
law, and diplomacy et cetera‖, he explained (as cited in
Cankao Xiaoxi,
2008, author‘s translation).
Recently, the government has started to fund research in Arctic-related social sciences, such as
international law and geopolitics on the Arctic, and many efforts have been made to increase
international cooperation on Arctic-related issues (Jakobson & Peng, 2012). In 2014, a China-Nordic