The Diplomat published an article titled, “How Asian Countries Are Making Their Way Into the Arctic.” The article reads in part as follows;
“On September 28, 2016 Russia’s Far Eastern Federal University and the Harbin Institute of Technology in China announced the launch of the Russian-Chinese Polar Engineering and Research Center. The new center will “engage in studies intended to promote industrial development of the Arctic,” including development of ice-resistant platforms and frost-resistant concrete for use in polar regions, as well as studying the effects of ice loads on ships and reliability of various engineering structures on ice.
In the past several years, involvement in Arctic scientific research has become a distinct feature of Asian states’ foreign policy. One of the core reasons is that countries are eager to obtain scientific knowledge about the causes of climate change in the Arctic, and what impacts this will have on the states’ environments and economic activity. According to Chinese experts, for example, climate change in the Arctic has a negative impact on China’s food security, due to the increasing risk of flooding in coastal regions, where major agricultural areas are located. India is also concerned about the possible influence of climate change in the Arctic on the Indian monsoon, which is crucial to its agriculture.
The second reason that pushes Asian states to enhance their involvement in Arctic scientific projects is to justify their growing interests in Arctic issues and secure their presence in the region by highlighting the global impact of climate change in the high north.”
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