AOn Wednesday, China opened the country's fifth Antarctic station near the Ross Sea. The building will accommodate 30 people in the winter months and 80 people in the summer months. The most important components were assembled in China and transported to Antarctica already assembled.
It is the country's third Antarctic station that can be used all year round. The other two permanently inhabited stations are the Great Wall Station, located on King George Island, and the Zhongshan Station, located in East Antarctica's Princess Elizabeth Land. Two other Chinese Antarctic stations are only used seasonally.
According to the American think tank “Center for Strategic and International Studies” (CSIS), construction began in 2018, but there was a lengthy standstill in the meantime, possibly as a result of the corona pandemic. The head of the Chinese Communist Party, President Xi Jinping, sent congratulations on the completion of the station named Qinling, which marked the 40th year of China's polar expeditions. The new station represents a guarantee for Chinese and international scientists that the secrets of nature will be explored, said Xi, who also chairs the Central Military Commission.
According to party media, he called for the polar regions to be better researched, protected and used. Ten years ago, China's leadership decided to make the country a “polar great power”.
Qinling Station is close to American McMurdo Station. The CSIS had already warned in April 2023 that Beijing could also use the new post for espionage purposes and, for example, intercept intelligence signals from Australia. The Chinese regime generally pursues the concept of “civil-military fusion” and also examines research for military purposes. According to the Antarctic Treaty, the continent can actually only be used for civil purposes.
The station will help increase scientific knowledge about Antarctica and promote peace and sustainable development in the Antarctic, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.
The station is named after a mountain range of the same name in central China, the watershed between the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. The Chinese news agency Xinhua described it as the lifeline of the Chinese people.
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