S THE ARCTIC SUMMER MELTS THE POLAR BEAR tracks on the sea ice around Norway's Spitsbergen Island, dozens of Chinese scientists are arriving at a facility guarded by a very different kind of white creature-stone lions from Shanghai. About 50 researchers from China are expected this year in the Norwegian science station of Ny-Ålesund in the Svalbard archipelago, where a male and a female lion watch the door of China's "Yellow River Station." It is the highest number of researchers since the COVID pandemic began, with some expected to stay through the polar winter.
The growing Chinese presence is a sign of the Arctic's increasing importance to Beijing as China emerges as a global power to challenge the United States and its allies, even though at its closest China is 900 miles away from the Arctic Circle, the distance from New York to Tallahassee. Svalbard, belonging to American NATO ally Norway but close to China's strategic ally Russia, is an accessible international scientific center that has become a microcosm of the struggle between world powers in the Arctic.
A Newsweek investigation shows that a Chinese scientific institute, that is operating on the island where research for "war-like purposes" is forbidden, is part of China's defense establishment, raising questions over whether it is defying the ban by carrying out potential "dual-use" research that has military as well as civilian applications. Meanwhile, a Chinese aerospace defense contractor is being served by a satellite ground station on Svalbard, even though Norway forbids data transmission "only or mainly" for military purposes, raising additional security questions.
Denne historien er fra August 16 - 23, 2024 (Double Issue)-utgaven av Newsweek Europe.
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Denne historien er fra August 16 - 23, 2024 (Double Issue)-utgaven av Newsweek Europe.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Falling for Romance
A new book, Nora Ephron at the Movies, celebrates the writer/director best known for her iconic rom-coms and strong female characters
Cracking the Norse Code
Walrus DNA has shown that Vikings were likely the first to have encountered Indigenous North Americans
Monumental Shift
The discovery of 165-million-year-old crystals Easter Island has upended the longheld notion of how the Earth's \"conveyor belt\" moves
'OUR FOREIGN POLICY AND DOMESTIC REFORMS ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN'
It is a well-known fact across the globe that the North Korean regime is irrational and unpredictable, but we have been consistent in strengthening our defense posture against the threat from North Korea since the Korean War, and I believe that their conventional capability is much inferior to that of the Korean military.
'They Read My Eulogy As I Lay in an Open Grave'
Like Paris Hilton, Natasia Pelowski claims she was subjected to abuse at a teenage therapy program
Russian Economy Faces 'Burnout'
Vladimir Putin admits difficulties” as the country’s key interest rate reaches a historic high
China's 'Silent Chemical War'
The U.S. must investigate Beijing's role in the manufacturing of fentanyl that is killing Americans, says one mom whose daughter died after accidentally taking the illicit substance
HARSH HEADWINDS
President Yoon Suk Yeol's BATTLE to reform a South Korea beset with structural problems under the specter of an increasingly aggressive neighbor to THE NORTH
Bridget Everett
BRIDGET EVERETT NEVER THOUGHT SHE'D BE THE LEAD OF A TV SHOW. \"I come from the downtown world in New York, a cabaret singer, and these things just don't happen, you don't find yourself with three seasons of HBO.
Amber Ruffin
A LATE-NIGHT COMEDY SHOW ON CNN? YES, and it's a game show, too.