The Arctic has the potential to become a new frontier for competition while also facing significant environmental impacts from climate change. Meanwhile, China has increasingly positioned itself as wanting to become a “polar great power.” What are China’s ambitions in the Arctic region—militarily, scientifically, economically, or otherwise? This expert panel explored how China engages with the eight Arctic sovereign states and how Beijing seeks to exercise greater influence in this strategic and valuable geographic region.
This event was co-sponsored by the Walsh School of Foreign Service Science, Technology and International Affairs (STIA) program and the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues at Georgetown University.
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Trym Eiterjord is a research associate at The Arctic Institute. He is a contributing writer to the Institute’s flagship weekly publication, “The Arctic This Week” (TATW). Eiterjord’s research interests include China’s Arctic engagement, as well as the nexus of technology and science in Arctic geopolitics. He is currently also developing a newsletter covering China in the Polar Regions, the Polar China Newsletter.
Marc Lanteigne is an associate professor of political science at UiT: The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø. Lanteigne specializes in China, East Asia, and polar regional politics and international relations. He has previously taught in Canada, China, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom; he has researched throughout the Arctic region. He is chief editor of the Arctic news blog Over the Circle.
Shuxian Luo is an assistant professor in the Department of Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii, Mānoa, and a non-resident China Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Luo’s research interests include maritime security in the Indo-Pacific, Chinese foreign policy, and U.S.-China relations, especially crisis management. Her current book project develops an analytical framework to explain when, why, and how China escalates incidents at sea arising from its maritime territorial and boundary disputes in the twenty-first century.
Jeremy Mathis (moderator) has been working in the Arctic for the past 12 years and is an expert on carbon cycle processes and ocean acidification. Mathis is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies and Science, Technology, and International Affairs Program at the Walsh School of Foreign Service. He previously served as the former director of the Arctic Research Program at the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
