Historia del Museo Pumapungo

In the summer of 2012, China’s sole icebreaker, Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, completed its fifth Arctic expedition. More impressive, Xuelong sailed to the Arctic using the Northern Sea Route, but returned from the Arctic using the Polar Route, bypassing both the Northern Sea Route and the Northwest Passage. This is particularly significant since the Polar Route lies in international waters and is the shortest route.

China is also increasing its investment in Arctic seafaring hardware.

Chinese policy-makers recently decided that Xuelong needed “brothers and sisters”. Moreover, instead of purchasing icebreakers from another country, China has decided to build the second icebreaker in its own shipyard, although using Finnish and British technical know-how.

Presence in the scientific community

University research departments and government-affiliated research institutes have been created in cities such as Beijing, Dalian and Shanghai for dedicated academic and scientific thinking on the Arctic. In 2004, China gained a physical scientific presence there by establishing the Huanghe, or Yellow River, research station in Norway. However, despite the infrastructure being set up specifically for research, it is worth noting that China does not have a dedicated budget line for Arctic research.

Diplomacy efforts

Even though Nordic countries were the first western nations to recognise the People’s Republic of China after its establishment in 1949 (Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland in 1950; Canada in 1970; Iceland in 1971),

no senior-level visits from China to the Nordic countries occurred until recently. This marked increase in diplomatic activity at the highest levels of China’s government is evidence of China’s growing interest in the Arctic. From 2005 to 2010, Norway had the most active relationship with China of the Nordic countries. Norway saw a flurry of visits by vice-premiers (2005, 2006), vice foreign ministers (2006, 2007, 2010), the minister and vice minister of commerce (2006, 2010), as well as senior officers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), such as Chief of General Staff General Chen Bingde (2008) and Chief of PLA Navy Admiral Wu Shengli (2009). Norway and China also established a bilateral dialogue on Arctic affairs. Senior officials have made inaugural visits to almost all of the Nordic countries in recent years, despite the freeze in relations with Norway in 2010. Chinese president Hu Jintao visited Sweden in June 2007 and Denmark in June 2012. In March 2010, Vice President Xi Jinping visited Sweden and Finland. In April 2012, Premier Wen Jiaobao visited Sweden and Iceland.

Economic engagement

With high-level political contact came economic engagement. Indeed when Premier Wen Jiabao visited Sweden in April 2012, five bilateral trade deals were signed with the government, and six agreements were signed with companies. During his June visit to Iceland in the same year, Wen Jiabao also signed a number of economic agreements, covering areas like free trade and continued geothermal energy cooperation. Denmark received a trade delegation ahead of any visit from a Chinese head of state; in May 2010, Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming led a trade and investment promotion mission that included more than 100 Chinese entrepreneurs. This was the largest Chinese trade delegation to visit Denmark.

Greenland’s minister for industry and mineral resources was greeted by Vice Premier Li Keqiang in China in November 2012. A few months later, China’s minister of land and resources, Xu Shaoshi, travelled to Greenland to sign cooperation agreements.

Greenland has substantial deposits of minerals, including rare earths, uranium, iron ore, lead, zinc, petroleum and gemstones. However,

Greenland has presently only one working mine. More than 100 new sites are being mapped out by prospecting companies of various nationalities. For China, large Chinese companies are financing the development of

mines identified by these smaller prospecting companies. For instance, London Mining, a British company, is in talks with a state-owned Chinese steel-maker to finance and build a US$2.3 billion iron mining operation 175 kilometres north of the capital, Nuuk. China plans to import 2300 Chinese workers (against Greenland’s population of 57,000). A vast majority of the iron extracted in the mines would be shipped back to China.

According to The New York Times, China also proposed building runways for jumbo jets on the ice in Greenland’s far north to fly out minerals until the ice has melted enough for shipping. Chinese mining proposals often include infrastructure building. In Canada, Chinese firms have acquired interests in two oil companies that could give them access to Arctic drilling. In addition, the Canadian government is currently considering a multi-billion dollar mining proposal in the Izok Corridor in western Nanuvut. The project would consist of two mine sites, an all-season access road and a port facility. The mines are expected to produce 180,000 tonnes of zinc and 50,000 tonnes of copper a year. To transport and ship these mineral concentrates, the

all-season access road would extend north to connect the two mines (Izok and the High Lake) and end further north at a proposed port at Grays Bay on the Coronation Gulf. The planned port would accommodate ships of up to 50,000 tonnes and which could make 16 round trips a year—both east and west—through the Northwest Passage.