CHINA IN THE POLAR REGIONS
CHINA IN THE ARCTIC
The PRC has increased activities and engagement in the Arctic region since gaining observer status in the Arctic Council in 2013. In January 2018, the PRC published its first Arctic strategy paper that promoted a “Polar Silk Road” and declared China to be a “near-Arctic State,” although it has since stopped using this language to describe itself in public fora. The strategy paper identifies the PRC’s interests as access to natural resources, sea lines of communication, and promoting an image of a “responsible major country” in Arctic affairs. The strategy highlights the PRC’s icebreaker vessels and research stations as integral to implementation.
The PRC maintains civilian research stations in Iceland and Norway and operates three icebreaking research vessels as of early 2023. The first is the Xue Long, which in 2017 became the first official Chinese vessel to traverse Canada’s Northwest Passage. In 2018, Beijing launched its second icebreaking research vessel, the Xue Long 2. The Xue Long 2 can break ice up to 1.5 meters thick, compared to the Xue Long’s maximum of 1.2 meters, and the first polar research vessel that can break ice while moving forwards or backwards. In October 2022, the Xue Long 2 commenced the PRC’s 12th Arctic expedition, during which researchers did comprehensive observations of the atmosphere, ocean and ecology. During the 12th Arctic Expedition, the PRC deployed an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) for the first time in the Arctic Ocean. In November 2020, the Xue Long 2 embarked on the PRC’s 37{{sup|th Antarctic expedition, where researchers planned to carry out hydrological, meteorological and environmental studies and monitor new pollutants such as microplastics and drifting garbage in the Antarctic Ocean. In February 2023, the PRC’s third polar icebreaker—the Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di—completed a 3,000-mile round-trip winter sea trial in the Bohai Sea.
The PRC’s expanding Arctic engagement has created new opportunities for engagement between the PRC and Russia. The PRC is interested in increasing the use of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) to cut shipping times between Europe and China by a third. The use of the NSR also allows China to diversify shipping routes away from the strategic Strait of Malacca. In September 2022, China and Russia also conducted a combined naval patrol in the Bering Sea. China-Russia cooperation on Arctic issues throughout 2022 likely created momentum enabling spring 2023 agreements to coordinate Arctic maritime law enforcement and establish a joint working body for the development of the NSR.
THE PRC IN THE ANTARCTIC
China currently has four active Antarctic sites that are used for environmental research and support to the Chinese space program: the Great Wall Station, Zhongshan Station, Kunlun Station, and Taishan Station. China is quickly building a formidable presence in Antarctica that almost certainly has a nexus with its civilian space program and future PLA missions. It also endeavors to work
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OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China
