• ZHAO Long, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director, Institute for Global Governance Studies (Shanghai Institutes for International Studies)
• Sakiko HATAYA, Research Fellow, Ocean Policy Research Institute, (Sasakawa Peace Foundation)
• KIM Wonhee, Senior Researcher (Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology)
• Anurag BISEN, Research Fellow (Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses)
• Christopher LEN, independent scholar based in Singapore, previously working as the Senior Research Fellow and Head of Publications, Energy Studies Institute (National University of Singapore)

 

• Moderated by: Nong HONG, Executive Director (Institute for China-America Studies)
• Welcoming Remarks by: Jia WANG, Interim Director, China Institute (University of Alberta)

EVENT SUMMARY

On April 13, 2023, the ICAS Maritime Affairs Program (MAP) and the China Institute at the University of Alberta (CIUA) co-hosted an online roundtable discussion on the “Roles of Asian Observers in Arctic Governance: Adapting to a Changing Arctic Council.” This event brought together scholars from the five Asian observer states of the Arctic Council—China, Japan, South Korea, India and Singapore—to exchange their views on the modern state of Arctic governance. The session was moderated by Nong HONG, Executive Director, Institute for China-America Studies.

Jia WANG, Interim Director, China Institute, University of Alberta, opened the discussion by highlighting how climate change is increasing access to potential shipping lanes and resources in the Arctic. However, Arctic governance through the Arctic Council, a forum historically characterized by deep multilateral cooperation, has become mired by unprecedented tensions and concerns resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Throughout the last decade, the growth of international attention on Arctic environmental, economic and security issues has brought distant countries to the discussion table as observer states on the Arctic Council. Wang invited the audience to carefully consider the gathered scholars’ opinions on how to rehabilitate Arctic cooperation, however distant from the poles these countries may be...

- READ THE FULL SUMMARY: https://chinaus-icas.org/event/roles-of-asian-observers-in-arctic-governance-adapting-to-a-changing-arctic-council/ -