Beijing challenges Australia for a slice of the Antarctic
Australia’s strategic duel with China has moved to the bottom of the world as both nations vie to tighten their grip on Antarctica with schemes to build huge allweather runways on the continent.
Australia plans a 2.5km paved strip for its Davis base in eastern Antarctica.
It would be the continent’s first concrete runway and the largest construction project attempted there.
Although less well advanced, China has announced plans for a large year-round airport 27km from its Zhongshan ice research station, also in east Antarctica and within the 42 per cent of the continent claimed by Australia.
China’s plans are causing mounting concern. The Lowy Institute in Sydney said in a study: ‘‘The geopolitical and security concerns of China’s proposed aerodrome within the Australian Antarctic Territory are real and undeniable.’’
The plans come amid a deterioration in relations between Australia and China, which took a further downward turn this week as Beijing suspended a joint diplomatic forum and accused Canberra of a ‘‘cold war mindset’’.
It follows the cancellation of Chinese investment plans in the state of Victoria by the federal government and comes as Australia
considers whether Landbridge Group, a Chinese company, should be forced to give up its 99-year lease of Port Darwin, Northern Territory, on national security grounds.
In Antarctica the proposed new Australian runway will allow all-year access for Royal Australian Airforce C-17 transport planes and larger passenger aircraft such the Boeing 787 – vastly superior to the summeronly operation of Australia’s existing ice runway.
Despite strong opposition from some Australian scientists who fear the new airport will displace seabird colonies and threaten seals that breed near by, Australia is due next month to reveal progress on the project to other Antarctic treaty nations at a meeting hosted by France.
While both Australia and China have sought to justify the projects on the grounds they will allow year-round research and monitoring, others say they are intended to bolster influence over the continent, home to sizeable energy and mineral reserves.
‘‘The confluence of strategic competition, increased tourism, economic interests, great-power identity politics and global environmental and climate security pressures have met to tighten the screws on east Antarctic yearround runway planning,’’ Dr Elizabeth Buchanan, an Antarctic expert and a lecturer in strategic studies at Australia’s Deakin University, told The Times.
Opponents of Australia’s plans say the proposed site around Davis station is possibly Antarctica’s most significant coastal ice-free area. It features unique lakes, fjords, fossil sites and wildlife.
Julia Jabour, a senior lecturer in law and policy at the University of Tasmania, co-authored a critical study which concluded that the project was largely driven by Antarctic politics. ‘‘It’s about staking a claim to your authority as a claimant. So bolstering your claim by having a superior logistics ability to be able to travel into that part of Antarctica at any time of the year,’’ she told The Times.
Supporters are relying on the argument that if Australia abandons its new Antarctica runway, another nation, probably China, will step in. A decision on the runway is to be made by the Australian government next year.
‘‘It’s about staking a claim to your authority as a claimant. So bolstering your claim by having a superior logistics ability to be able to travel into that part of Antarctica at any time of the year.’’
Julia Jabour, University of Tasmania