In 2048 , a very significant external event will go on : The Antarctic Treaty , which arrest countries from mine the continent ’s abundant resource , will come up for review . China — along with the US , the UK , and other commonwealth — intends to be quick .
This weekend , Chinaunveiledits 4th polar research post : Taishan , a 3,000 - solid - foot lab that can domiciliate up to 20 the great unwashed at peak prison term . The building ’s unparalleled human body has been compare to a lantern — in fact , the idea is to keep blow from impacting the sides of the structure during gales .
There ’s also a rail for aircraft , because Taishan is fairly far inland . grant to CCTV , the entire affair take just 53 day to build — and it ’s only ask to last for 15 years , tops . After all , the half life for architecture on this frozen continent isnotoriously short .
https://gizmodo.com/a-rare-glimpse-inside-the-research-stations-at-the-end-924120029
The construction of the base . Image : News . CN .
So , what ’s the with child deal ? China has a handful of other stations on the continent , after all , and is still lagging behind the US and the UK — though the body politic plans to ramp up another station soon .
But country with interest in Antarctica are investing in more than just scientific inquiry here . They ’re also investing in the bountiful resourcefulness — from oil , to valued metals , to fishing — that this currently - protected continent could someday provide them access code to . So though we do n’t hear about it very often , Antarctica is the direction of a long , deadening , political land grab .
Top : Polar expeditiousness ship Xuelong on its room to the Formosan Zhongshan post . Bottom : China ’s Zhongshan Station in Antarctica . AP Photo /Xinhua , Zhang Zongtang .
“ Land grab ” is n’t quite the parole for it — rather , reign on this gelid continent is contested . That means that enquiry Stations of the Cross serve two purposes : They ’re built for science , of course , but also to set down title . There are other approach , too — like the unsubdivided act of nominate a situation . The UK lately moved to name a jumbo glob of the continent “ Queen Elizabeth Land . ” Likewise , Quartz account , Chinese mappers have list 359 places in Antarctica .
In this brightness level , each research station is another dowel in the social structure of a legal argument just beginning to take shape in the aloof future . 34 years from now , when the Antarctic Treaty is being heatedly debated ( in what I can only assume will be the Galactic Senate ) these stations will serve as grounds .
In Antarctica , China — along with the US , the UK , and every other country there — is play the long game . Though , consort to The Economist , the long game could beabout to shorten considerably . Either elbow room , keep an center on this frozen landmass — it ’s host an outside raceway that ’s about to heat up up .
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