China moves to become major Arctic player

The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E), a high-resolution passive microwave Instrument on NASAs Aqua satellite, shows the state of Arctic sea ice on September 10 in this file image released September 16, 2008.

Photograph by: NASA, Reuters

A new report by a leading European think-tank says China is "paying increasing attention to the consequences of the melting of the ice in the Arctic" and positioning itself for an influential role in the emerging realm of polar geopolitics.

The "groundbreaking" study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, partly funded by the Norwegian government, also revealed that Canada has already engaged in bilateral meetings with the Asian superpower to confront potential issues arising from the recent record-setting retreat of Arctic sea ice, which has raised the prospect of increased shipping and oil development in the region.

The report, released Monday, quotes one of China's top Arctic experts as saying: "Circumpolar nations have to understand that Arctic affairs are not only regional issues but also international ones."

Authored by the institute's China specialist Linda Jakobson, the study — titled "China Prepares For an Ice-Free Arctic" — distils dozens of interviews with China's leading polar scientists and policy-makers.

"To date China has adopted a wait-and-see approach to Arctic developments, wary that active overtures would cause alarm in other countries due to China's size and status as a rising global power," the report notes. "However, in recent years Chinese officials and researchers have started to also assess the commercial, political and security implications for China of a seasonally ice-free Arctic region."

China's increasing attention toward Arctic issues is evident in its recent effort to obtain permanent observer status with the Arctic Council, an eight-nation forum that includes Canada and the four other Arctic Ocean coastal states — Denmark, Russia, the U.S. and Norway — as well as Sweden, Iceland and Finland.

The question of China's inclusion on the margins of the forum, along with that of the European Union, was postponed recently — in part because of Canada's objections to the EU's controversial ban on commercial seal products.

"We are aware of China's growing interest in polar issues, both in the Arctic and Antarctic," Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Catherine Loubier told Canwest News Service on Monday. "Past discussions with China were largely centred around an exchange of information on various scientific endeavours."

Two of Canada's leading Arctic experts say they are impressed with China's commitment to investing in Arctic science and both say it's clear the Asian giant plans to respect the territorial sovereignty of the Arctic coastal countries while angling for a greater role in polar research, Arctic governance and, ultimately, economic development.

"The Chinese are about to emerge as a major Arctic power," says University of Calgary political scientist Rob Huebert, who travelled to Beijing and Shanghai last week for a Sino-Canadian forum on Arctic issues and to visit China's main polar research institute.

"They are investing heavily to set themselves up for Arctic science," said Huebert, noting that China is currently building what will be the world's largest icebreaker for polar research. "China's prosperity depends on maritime shipping. They clearly want to get an understanding of the possibility of new trade routes."

University of British Columbia professor Michael Byers, author of Who Owns The Arctic?, said the reassuring tone of the Swedish report "contradicts some of the fearmongering" surrounding China's interest in the Arctic and its resources.

"It shows how countries around the world are gearing up to take advantage of the melting sea ice," Byers adds, "and how Canada needs to get its act together" to prepare for increased shipping in the Northwest Passage and potential oil exploration throughout the North.

On Saturday, the federal government announced details of its plans to more strictly regulate marine traffic in Canada's Arctic waters, implementing by July 1 a mandatory ship-tracking system for all large vessels — foreign and domestic — that travel through the Canadian Arctic archipelago.

The current voluntary registry has been the target of critics for years as a lax system that could lead to environmental disasters, tourism tragedies and even terrorist activity in the Arctic.

Precisely how the increasingly open Arctic waters will be regulated and governed in the future remains unresolved. While claims for potentially oil-rich undersea territory are being peacefully worked out under a UN treaty, the five nations with Arctic Ocean coastlines recently rankled northern aboriginal groups and the three non-coastal members of the Arctic Council by excluding them from a planned Arctic Summit later this month in Chelsea, Que., near Ottawa.