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Arctic Yearbook 2013
China‘s Arctic Interests
Arctic Research Center will be established in Shanghai to ―increase awareness and knowledge of the
area and promote cooperation for its sustainable development‖ (Wang, 2013, June 6).
In the opening address of the Third World Academy of Sciences 9th General Conference held in
2003, President Hu Jintao declared that ―over time, each great civilization has greatly influenced and
contributed to the global advancement of science and technology‖ (as cited in TWAS, 2003). Today,
as Chinese leaders recognise that higher education and scientific research are essential to China‘s
economic development and emerging global status, China is investing heavily on science and
technology. According to Hu Jintao, China‘s scientific programmes pursue to serve ―our people and
the global community by putting science and technology to work for the benefit of all humankind‖
(as cited in TWAS, 2003). Currently, China is in a process of increasing its capabilities in polar
research as well. In 2009, Deputy Secretary of State, Oceanic Administration announced that in line
with the promotion of the state‘s comprehensive national power,
Xuelong
will have ―brothers and
sisters‖ (
Xinhua
, 2009). A new vessel is planned to go into operation in 2014, and will be the first
domestically built icebreaker in China (
China Daily
, 2012 October 23). Furthermore, China is
planning to build two new Antarctic research stations (
Xinhua
, 2013, March 29). As the Antarctic
Treaty allows China to establish research stations and do research without any other state‘s
permission, China‘s polar research continues to focus on the South Pole. To some extent, Antarctic
research is a kind of test-platform for China‘s Arctic activities due to similar environmental
conditions (Alexeeva & Lasserre, 2012: 82).
Although the Himalayan mountain glaciers are evidently melting at an accelerated rate, scientific
knowledge on climate change impact in the Himalayas and Tibetan plateau is comparatively smaller
than in the Polar regions. At first glance, the ―two regions are vastly different — one an ocean
surrounded by land, the other entirely landlocked; one created by its high latitude, the other by its
high altitude; one sparsely populated, with less than four million inhabitants; while 750 million are
estimated to live in the Himalayan watershed region (and 2.5 billion rely on water arising in the
region as a whole)‖ (International Cryosphere Climate Initiative, 2013). However, the regions have a
lot in common: They both are increasingly affected by climate change, and trans-boundary pollution
such as black carbon. Therefore, research in the ―third pole‖ could benefit from scientific findings
of polar research, and vice versa.
Economic Interests
As the Chinese government considers economic development the main priority in all policies,
China‘s activities in the Arctic are undoubtedly motivated by economic drivers. Firstly, rapid
economic growth causes huge energy demand in China and China is looking for new opportunities
for oil imports. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (2008), the ―extensive Arctic continental
shelves may constitute the geographically largest unexplored prospective area for petroleum
remaining on Earth‖. As marine geoscientist Professor Li Sanzhong of the Oceanic University of
China in Qingdao (as cited in Chen, 2013) points out, ―A substantial area of the Arctic region had
not been legally claimed by any country‖. According to him, ―China has the need and technological
ability to explore and mine these resources. It is definitely worth a try.‖ As China does not have the
necessary technology needed to extract oil or gas from the Arctic continental shelf, it is likely they