East-West Question | Deng Bessie: How can China actively promote international pragmatic cooperation in the Arctic?

China News Service, Paris, October 17. Question: How does China actively promote international pragmatic cooperation in the Arctic?

——Exclusive interview with Deng Beixi, researcher at China Polar Research Center (China Polar Research Institute)

China News Service reporter Li Yang

The 2026 Arctic Circle Conference was held recently in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, local time. More than 2,500 representatives from more than 70 countries and regions participated in the meeting to discuss issues such as understanding, protection, development and governance of the Arctic. Fu Ying, former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, was invited to attend the meeting.

During the conference, Fu Ying said that the joint statement issued by the leaders of China and Iceland last year emphasized strengthening cooperation in the fields of climate change and green energy. These pragmatic cooperation can better reflect China’s policies and intentions in participating in Arctic affairs. The China Polar Research Center (China Polar Research Institute) and international partners jointly organized the side event "China's Participation in Arctic Science: Strengthening Trust and Cooperation" to systematically elaborate on China's contribution to Arctic governance and willingness to cooperate. The Ocean Conservancy and China's Tongji University co-hosted the side event "China-U.S. Relations in the Arctic - Prospects for Cooperation." Chinese and American experts discussed topics such as the prospects for cooperation and future governance in the Arctic.

Deng Beixi, a researcher at the China Polar Research Center (China Polar Research Institute) who attended the conference, said in an exclusive interview with China News Service's "East-West Question" during the conference that China actively promotes international pragmatic cooperation in the Arctic. At this conference, Fu Ying attended the plenary session with the theme of "How to Understand China" and had a dialogue with Grimsson, Chairman of the Arctic Circle Forum and former President of Iceland; Chinese scholars actively spoke out through side events and many other occasions, which fully reflected China's willingness to promote peace, stability and sustainable development in the Arctic.

Deng Bessie said that in terms of specific cooperation, the China-Nordic Arctic Research Center is led by the China Polar Research Center (China Polar Research Institute) and co-sponsored by research institutions in China and the five Nordic countries. Currently, the center has 10 Chinese member units and 9 Nordic member units. Through annual seminars, economic roundtables and other activities, we discuss issues related to the Arctic environment and climate change, Arctic governance, waterways, tourism, fisheries and other issues related to the sustainable development of the Arctic economy. China’s two land-based research stations in the Arctic, the Yellow River Station and the China-Iceland Arctic Scientific Research Station, are also built in Nordic countries. The survey observation and monitoring data of the two research stations in the fields of meteorology, glaciers, ecology, upper-altitude physics and other fields are actively provided to the Svalbard Integrated Earth Observation System and the European Space Agency ESA-SSA Space Weather Service Network.

China obtained observer status in the Arctic Council in 2013 and participated in the first Arctic Circle Forum hosted by Iceland that year. According to Deng Bessie, China’s participation in Arctic affairs and related cooperation has long been supported by Nordic countries. For example, when China applied for observer status in the Arctic Council, the Nordic countries were very supportive. At that time, scientific research cooperation around Arctic climate change and environmental monitoring was also listed as one of the key cooperation directions between China and the Nordic countries.

Deng Bessie said that China has also actively participated in cooperation related to the Agreement to Prevent Unregulated High Seas Fisheries in the Central and Arctic Oceans. In March this year, it hosted the fourth Scientific Coordination Mechanism (SCG) meeting of the Agreement for the first time in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, which played a positive role in promoting consensus among relevant parties on relevant issues. The agreement aims to prevent unregulated commercial fishing on the high seas in the central Arctic Ocean and protect the fragile Arctic marine ecosystem. It has officially entered into force in 2021, and China and a number of Nordic countries are parties.

In terms of economic cooperation, Dembesi said that fisheries and aquatic products from Norway, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and other places have large export markets in China. As an environmentally friendly and sustainable economic industry, Nordic ice, snow and tourism projects have also attracted attention from the Chinese tourism industry. The number of Chinese tourists visiting destinations such as Tromso, Norway and Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, Finland, has increased significantly. Regular passenger routes between China and Iceland are about to be opened. There are also significant cooperation results in the field of renewable energy. Cooperation in geothermal resources has become one of the main highlights of bilateral cooperation between China and Iceland. For example, Iceland's geothermal technology has been implemented in China's Xiongan New Area, helping to build China's first geothermal heating "smoke-free city".

When talking about China's potential areas and prospects for international Arctic cooperation, Deng Bessie said that the United States' refusal to talk about climate change and its withdrawal from some international multilateral mechanisms have, to a certain extent, created a gap in the supply of public goods for Arctic scientific research. A prominent example is the Arctic Report Card issued annually by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which has long been used to track climate and environmental changes in the Arctic region. But the Trump administration has announced it will stop providing federal support for the report, and NOAA will no longer coordinate its official release. In this context, China can work with the Nordic countries and other international partners and rely on existing cooperation mechanisms to jointly participate in providing international public goods in the field of Arctic scientific research.

Deng Bessie said that in the context of the current geopolitical tensions that have a profound impact on polar scientific research cooperation, this year's Arctic Circle Forum held many discussions around the fifth International Polar Year (2032-2033). The International Polar Year is regarded as one of the important tools to bring polar scientific research cooperation back on track. The program was initiated by organizations such as the International Council for Science and the World Meteorological Organization, and aims to conduct in-depth studies of environmental changes in Antarctica and the Arctic and their impact on global climate through multidisciplinary joint observations. The scientific community looks forward to taking this opportunity to broadly include as many countries related to polar research as possible into the cooperation framework. At present, the International Coordination Office for the Fifth International Polar Year has been confirmed to be located in Tromso, Norway, and Norway will play an important coordinating role; China will also actively participate in relevant cooperation for the International Polar Year. (End)

Interviewee profile:

Bessie Deng is a researcher at the China Polar Research Center (China Polar Research Institute).