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China’s observer status of the Arctic Council has some unnerved
| Global Times | 2013-6-3 20:08:00 By Liu Linlin |
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Residents of Essei town north of the Arctic Circle, in the Evenk Autonomous Area, Russian Federation Photo: AFP
For most Chinese people, the Arctic Circle is a vision of ice fields, eternal cold, polar bears and Eskimos. Its strategic value is almost unknown.
But as China, together with five other nations, was accepted by the Arctic Council meeting in Sweden as a permanent observer of the Council on May 15, that strategic importance is slowly becoming clearer to the public.
The council is made up of the eight Arctic nations: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the US. As of May, there are also 12 permanent observers in the Council. Being a permanent observer gives no right to vote, but does acceptance by the Council really mean that China is moving closer to the Arctic Circle?
The region's geographic conditions used to impede countries in the Arctic Circle or outside from exploring its resources and sea routes. However, as the ice melts more quickly and the sea levels rise, the environmental concerns of some are creating business opportunities for others.
New treasure trove
Environmentalists are concerned that melting ice in the Arctic is doing so more rapidly because of the influence of climate change. Since 1951, the Arctic has warmed roughly twice as much as the global average. The geographic phenomenon has sent alarm bells ringing that the melting ice might lead to natural disasters around the world.
But on the other hand, the change in geographic outlook also opens a door to profit.
The widely cited US Geological Survey has estimated that some 30 percent of the world's undiscovered reserves of natural gas, and 13 percent of the undiscovered oil, lie in the Arctic. It also contains coal, iron, uranium, gold, copper, rare earths, gemstones and many more, including fish.
As the ice melts, shorter sea routes will open up for countries trading en route to Europe and North America.
"If the Northern Sea Route (NSR) is enlarged and fully used, it will take no more than 20 days to get from Shanghai to Europe, instead of 35 days now. There is a huge potential for development in the Arctic Circle, not only for resources but also for shipping," Zhang Yongfeng, an expert at the Shanghai International Shipping Institute, told the Global Times.
For now, the NSR is still in its infancy. According to the Centre for High North Logistics, an Arctic-focused information center based in Norway, 46 vessels used the NSR in 2012, carrying about 1.26 million tons of cargo which was an increase of more than 50 percent from the number seen in 2011.
The NSR runs along the northern coastline of Siberia from Novaya Zemlya to the Bering Strait. It is open only for about five months from late June to November or early December each year, and requires icebreakers to cut a path through the Arctic ice for specially strengthened oil and gas carriers.
But current international laws are not clear for passage on the NSR now and information about atmosphere and geographic conditions is still insufficient, so most Chinese companies are still exploring and weighing up their involvement in the region, Zhang said, adding that even if the route did open now to Chinese companies, the cost of going through would be very high.
"The Arctic has no doubt become the third strategically important area for the world after the Middle East and the East and South China Seas," Guo Peiqing, professor at the School of Law and Political Science at Ocean University of China, told the Global Times.
Even with exploitation costs still high, it is strategically vital for China to be a major player in the region, Guo added.
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