Fight for leadership at the South Pole
The Antarctic region, rich in natural resources, has been the subject of political disputes between the world powers fighting for influence over the continent of Antarctica and the waters of the Southern Ocean for more than 200 years. Apart from the fact that the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 formalised territorial claims to the continent by only 7 countries - Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom - it also established a ban on other states making claims or expanding their existing presence. However, despite such restrictions, Russia and China continue to fight for the right to have a presence in the region.
Interests of states in the region
The main purpose of the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 was to prohibit the mining and extraction of mineral resources, the deployment of nuclear weapons, military bases, and the dumping of radioactive materials. According to the Treaty, Antarctica is allowed to be used only for peaceful and research purposes to protect and preserve the continent's marine living resources.
The states interested in the development of Antarctica realise the strategic prospect of exploring the South Pole. According to experts' estimates, Antarctica's oil reserves may reach 200 billion barrels and natural gas reserves - more than 100 trillion cubic metres. In addition to blue fuel and black gold, the continent is also rich in deposits of coal, iron ore, lead, zinc, rock crystal, and its ice cover contains 90% of the world's freshwater reserves. That is why the development of the South Pole is among the key blocks of the foreign policy strategy of the most active countries in the region, such as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, UK, India, China, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, USA, Chile and South Africa.
For example, in 1820, during the expedition of navigators Faddey Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev, the Russian Empire, being the discoverer of the South Pole, could declare Antarctica its territory by the right of discovery of no man's land (terra nullius) and start to legally conduct scientific research activities on the continent, as well as to search for and extract Antarctic natural resources. However, Russia did not use this right and in 1859 was among the first to sign the Antarctic Treaty, continuing to conduct activities in the region.
Currently Moscow's interests are formulated in the Strategy for the Development of the Russian Federation's Activities in the Antarctic, according to which the main tasks of Russia on the continent are to contribute to the development and strengthening of the international Antarctic Treaty System, to study the influence of Antarctica on the climate and to provide ground support for the Russian Federation's space activities in the region.
Nevertheless, Russia is among the three leaders in terms of the number of stations at the South Pole. At the moment, the Russian Federation is in charge of seven working stations: "Vostok", "Mirny", "Bellingshausen", "Novolazarevskaya", "Progress", "Molodyozhnaya" and "Russkaya", which was mothballed by decree of the Russian Government in 2020. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is located on the coast in a hard-to-reach area - the Pacific sector of Antarctica. Most of the scientific bases at the South Pole were established during the Soviet era and are still in operation today, nevertheless Russia regularly updates and modernises its polar stations and research vessels operating in hard-to-reach areas of the Arctic and Antarctic. For example, in January 2024, a new wintering complex of the Vostok station was commissioned, and the construction of the research vessel Ivan Frolov to replace the flagship Akademik Fedorov was announced at the Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg.
Among the first signatories of the Antarctic Treaty, apart from Russia, were the USA, which reserved the right to declare territorial claims to Antarctica. The Americans have only three stations in Antarctica: "Amundsen-Scott", "McMurdo" and "Palmer", and the number of American polar explorers is more than 1200 people. For comparison, Russian stations in Antarctica employ about 100 polar explorers. The USA also owns an impressive infrastructure base on the mainland: airstrips, storage points and temporary stations. According to the US State Department website, Washington has "diplomatic and scientific interests" in the region, and it was through its diplomatic efforts that the Antarctic Treaty was concluded. According to some researchers, this Treaty is an attempt by the US to limit the growth of influence and activities of other world powers in the South Pole region, to freeze the status of the continent in the absence of its own resources and to prevent the USSR from making territorial claims. That is why Washington is the most active participant of various formats in the Antarctic Treaty System: it promotes the environmental agenda in the region and conducts scientific activities.
India is not lagging behind: the first Indian Antarctic research station "Dakshin Gangotri" operated from 1983 to 1990, and the second research station "Maitri" was opened in 1989. In 2014, the third Indian Antarctic science station Bharati was established near the oasis of the Larsemann Hills. India annually conducts about 40 scientific expeditions, the results of which have repeatedly become the subject of scientific discoveries. For example, in 2021 a species of moss, previously unknown to mankind, was discovered, the peculiarity of which is its ability to grow in permafrost conditions.
However, the most active state in the region is China; the Chinese have been systematically developing Antarctica since 1984. During this time, Beijing has built five powerful Antarctic research stations: "Changcheng" ("Great Wall Station"), "Zhongshan", "Kunlun", "Taishan" and "Qinling", the last one was opened in February 2024. "Qinling" is the first Chinese station to be located in the Ross Sea area near the US station "McMurdo".
Australia, the state with the largest territorial claims on the continent - about 40% of its territory - is particularly concerned about China's active engagement in the region. Australia, owning three stations: "Mawson", "Davis" and "Casey", is in no hurry to develop its presence in Antarctica. Thus, the work on updating the infrastructure of the stations has not yet been completed, and the first Australian icebreaker "Nuyina", suitable for navigation in Antarctic waters, was launched only in 2021, whilst foreign activity within the Australian sector continues to increase. For example, there are now six foreign stations operating in the Australian-owned part of Antarctic: the Russian Vostok, Mirny and Progress stations, the Chinese Zhongshan and Qinling stations and the jointly owned Concordia station of France and Italy.
Confrontation with China and Russia in the Antarctic
The essence of Australia's policy in the region is information confrontation with its allies - Argentina, Great Britain, the USA and New Zealand - to the "expansion" of China and Russia in the Antarctic. In connection with the construction of the Chinese station "Qinling" not far from the American "McMurdo" south of the Australian coast, the Western press actively promotes the agenda that the station will have a dual purpose. In addition to scientific activities, its functionality will include interception of US and Australian satellite signals. Similar information was spread in the Western media after the opening of the wintering complex at the Russian Vostok station, which, according to news agencies, could be used for military purposes.
Another information reason for the confronting the activities of China and Russia is fishing, namely the catch of Antarctic krill, which is the most valuable bioresource of the World Ocean and the largest source of animal protein of marine origin used in the food industry, biotechnology and pharmacology. That is why the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources was adopted in 1982 under the auspices of Western countries, which at that time did not have the necessary fleet for fishing, unlike, for example, the USSR, to limit krill fishing. In order to control compliance with the provisions of the Convention, a special CCAMLR Commission was established, which monitors and establishes the procedure for implementation and limits of catches of toothfish, ice fish and krill.
The entry into force of the Convention marked the reduction of the world krill fishery by more than 6 times, from 373 thousand tonnes in 1982 to 60 thousand tonnes in 1992.
Despite the fact that the expert community has established that the annual catch of 13 million tonnes of krill will not harm the biosphere of the world's oceans with a total krill fishery of 420,000 tonnes in 2022, Australia and its allies do not miss any opportunity to counteract the increasing fishing by China and the Russian Federation. Thus, in 2018, for the first time since the signing of the Convention, the krill catch figures exceeded 370 thousand tonnes, most of which went to China. Russia, in its turn, according to the strategy for the development of the fishery complex, plans to reach the catch rate of 450 thousand tonnes per year by 2030.
There are also more and more frequent articles in the information space, in which, according to some experts, the activities of Moscow and Beijing in the region are the cause of global warming. However, such information is promoted not because of the proven harm to the environment, but because of the lack of Western countries' own fishing capacities and strategic interests in the region. In this way, Western countries are trying to put pressure on unfriendly states.
Australia, as the largest state bordering the Antarctic, cannot accept the fact that China's importance at the South Pole is growing by leaps and bounds every year. The increasing frequency of articles on the use of the Antarctic by China and Russia for military purposes and damage to the world's oceans indicates the desire of Western countries to oust Moscow and Beijing from the Antarctic Treaty system. Thus, as 2041 approaches - the date of revision of the Madrid Protocol, which establishes a ban on the development of deposits and extraction of mineral resources in the Antarctic - Western states will try to get such major players as Russia and China to withdraw in order to change the terms of the agreement and achieve full hegemony at the South Pole.
