China is Positioning Itself for Future Exploitation of Antarctica

CHINA’S presence has been felt on every continent. Now it is growing in Antarctica. Over the past two decades its annual Antarctic spending has tripled to $55m, three times its Arctic investment.

As with the Arctic, China is explicit about its polar objectives. In July President Xi Jinping said China should explore the poles and the oceans in order to take advantage of resources. The Southern Ocean is full of fish. A large petroleum field was recently discovered in West Antarctica. The continent also has deposits of coal and other valuable minerals. The Protocol on Environmental Protection, a document signed in Madrid in 1991 by countries involved in Antarctica, has imposed a mining ban until 2048, when it is to be reviewed. But Anne-Marie Brady, author of a new book on China’s polar strategy, says that despite this protection, the eventual exploitation of Antarctica is inevitable.

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