What Chinese ambitions in the Antarctic?

China inaugurated its fifth base in Antarctica this Wednesday, February 7. The Qinling scientific research station on the Ross Sea will strengthen studies of the ice cap, marine ecology and climate change. One more piece in the Chinese race to the South Pole that began almost four decades ago. 

This satellite image taken on March 7, 2023 and received on April 28, 2023 courtesy of Maxar Technologies shows China's Zhongshan Research Station in Antarctica. AFP - HANDOUT

By: Stéphane Lagarde Follow

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From our correspondent in Beijing, 

Located in the maritime area closest to the South Pole, in the “last of the oceans”, as explorers say, the Qinling base should be able to accommodate nearly 80 researchers in the summer and around thirty in the winter, according to the Nouvelles

de Beijing

.

The 5,244 m² of structures will be devoted to glaciology, geophysical and biomedical research, meteorology and astronomy, but also to complete the study of the Southern Ocean ecosystem.

At the forefront of global warming

Since its first Antarctic expedition in 1984, then the installation of its first permanent base nicknamed “the Great Antarctic Wall” a year later, China – which started very late – has become a major polar power. These five Antarctic stations allow us to be at the forefront of global warming.

In 2017, the 33rd scientific expedition aboard the icebreaker “Xuelong” – the “snow dragon” – provided a better understanding of the evolution of the ice core through 66 drillings, at a depth of 146 meters.

On December 18, we were on our

fortieth expedition

with a new ship, the “Xuelong 2”. But this race to the pole also allows China to position itself as close as possible to the resources covered by the Antarctic ice.

“

The polar ice cap constitutes a new hope in the context of the energy crisis”

, writes the Lookot think tank taken up by the state information site

The Paper

 with its 50 to 100 billion barrels of crude, 300 500 billion cubic meters of natural gas and the world's largest reserves of coal and iron. Minerals, energies, Antarctica also constitutes humanity's first reserve of unpolluted fresh water.

Also listen: Arctic-Antarctica: state of play of geopolitical dynamics

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