| Submit your comments on this article |
| China-Japan-Koreas |
| China eyeing perks of ice-free Arctic: study |
| 2010-03-03 |
| Looks like Greenland might turn green again. China has started exploring how to reap economic and strategic benefits from the ice melting at the Arctic with global warming, a Stockholm research institute said Monday. Chinese officials have so far had been cautious in expressing interest in the region for fear of causing alarm among the five countries bordering the Arctic, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said. "The prospect of the Arctic being navigable during summer months, leading to both shorter shipping routes and access to untapped energy resources, has impelled the Chinese government to allocate more resources to Arctic research," SIPRI researcher Linda Jakobson said. Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States are already at odds over how to divvy up the Arctic riches, claiming overlapping parts of the region -- estimated to hold 90 billion untapped barrels of oil -- and wrangling over who should control the still frozen shipping routes. Most Europe-Asia trade now travels through the Suez Canal. Diverting this traffic through the famed Northwest Passage, which according to different predictions could become ice-free in the summer months any time between 2013 and 2060, would cut travel distance by 40 percent. "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," Jakobson said. China has no Arctic coast and therefore no sovereign rights to underwater continental shelves, and is not a member of the Arctic Council which determines Arctic policies. "China's insistence on respect for sovereignty as a guiding principle of international relations deters it from questioning the territorial rights of Arctic states," according to SIPRI report "China prepares for an ice-free Arctic". Officially, the country's research remains largely focused on the environmental challenges of a melting Arctic. "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," Jakobson said. She points out that the country has one of the world's strongest polar scientific research capabilities and already owns the world's largest non-nuclear icebreaker. Last year Beijing approved the building of a new high-tech polar expedition research icebreaker, to set sail in 2013. "Despite its seemingly weak position, China can be expected to seek a role in determining the political framework and legal foundation for future Arctic activities," Jakobson said. |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #6 RUSSIA'S "CHINA THREAT" THEORY > Moscow needs the economic trade wid CHINA to support its vital national modernization while simultan recognizing Chin's LT ambitions = strategic threat to its Far East-SIberia + Central Asia [Chin-desired future "living space"]. RUSSIA'S GOT AMBITIOUS NUCLEAR CHINA ON ONE FLANK, AND AMBITIOUS NUCLEAR-HAPPY/WANNABE RADICAL ISLAM ON THE OTHER. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-03-03 20:42 |
| #5 Diverting this traffic through the famed Northwest Passage, which according to different predictions could become ice-free in the summer months any time between 2013 and 2060, would cut travel distance by 40 percent. They mean the North East Passage, which is already sufficiently icefree to allow navigation with help of icebreakers. The NW Passage is a longer route from China, but already ice free in some years. However, narrow channels make commercial shipping problematic. Give 'em time. Eastern Siberia will be Chinese in two generations I'd say less. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2010-03-03 19:49 |
| #4 Give 'em time. Eastern Siberia will be Chinese in two generations. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2010-03-03 12:54 |
| #3 ArCtic, Bobby. We arctic circle types are sensitive, ya know. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2010-03-03 08:24 |
| #2 Ah-HA! Now I get it! They didn't support Obama at Copenhagen becasue they want to keep making greenhouse gases to add to global warming so they can control the artic! [/paranoid] |
| Posted by: Bobby 2010-03-03 06:15 |
#1 Sorry. My mind must have been elsewhere when I was categorizing this one. Should probably go under China/Non-WoT
| |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-03-03 00:53 |