BEIJING (AP) – Chinese officials will detail their growing ambitions in Antarctica on Monday as Beijing hosts a meeting of nations that oversee management of the polar region amid concerns over its susceptibility to climate change.
Scientific research in Antarctica is governed under a 1959 treaty and subsequent agreements that designated the ice-capped continent as a natural reserve and prohibited military bases or the extraction of natural resources.
China signed on in 1983 and has since established four Antarctic research stations. It plans to start construction of an airfield later this year and a fifth research station as early as 2018.
About 400 representatives from 42 countries and 10 international organizations are expected to attend the 40th Antarctic Treaty meeting, which goes through June 1. China’s delegation is led by Yang Jiechi, a senior foreign policy adviser to Chinese president Xi Jinping, and Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli.
Their attendance speaks to the importance China attaches to its rising scientific and technological prowess, which includes landing a rover on the moon in 2013, an increasingly sophisticated military and the maiden flight of the first large Chinese-made passenger jetliner earlier this month.