Staff Reporter
Want China Time
August 8, 2014
The Chinese icebreaker Xuelong enters the Arctic Circle through the Bering Sea on July 28 on a polar exploration mission. (Photo/Xinhua)
While the disputed South China Sea is still considered a hot spot by Western analysts, Peter Giraudo in an article for the Washington-based National Interest magazine on Aug. 4 says it it is time for them to turn their attention to China’s “Great Game” in the Arctic Circle.
Giraudo said the South China Sea and Central Asia will not be the only two regions where China focuses its attentions in the next two decades. Beijing is also likely to look elsewhere for natural resources. “The vast, barren northern part of the planet called the Arctic Circle holds about 13% of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30% of its undiscovered natural gas,” he wrote. Many scientists believe the region will offer up great resources when the polar ice cap melts by 2030 — though this is also likely to bring potentially catastrophic consequences for the Earth’s climate.
“Although it is the world’s second biggest economy, China depends on imports for many of the raw goods it needs to fuel its relentless pace of economic growth,” Giraudo wrote. To continue its current pace of development, Giraudo said China will have to look for natural resources farther and farther afield.
Though China is not a member of the Arctic Council, it can avoid the kinds of disputes Russia currently faces with other member states as a neutral observer. The country plans to spend to spend US$60 million a year on polar research at its new China-Nordic Arctic Research Center in Shanghai, Giraudo said, as well as strengthening relations individually with members of the Arctic Council: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States.
“China prefers these types of relationships because it can bring its economic might to bear on smaller states separately,” Giraudo said. “A new free-trade deal with Iceland and US$500 million dollar currency-exchange support program for Icelandic banks are just the beginnings of this strategy.” He said Beijing is likely to have a permanent seat on the Arctic Council as these smaller states rely more on China’s economic support.
If Russia becomes more isolated from the international community, Beijing is likely to gain more opportunity to project its influence into the Arctic Circle through its partnership with Moscow. “Russian companies, isolated from western partners, will have to turn to Beijing for money and assistance in the Arctic,” Giraudo wrote. China National Petroleum Corporation already has made a deal with Rosneft, the Russian energy giant, for Arctic oil exploration, he said.
