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Topic: Space Blog Brand: The Buzz Region: Antarctic Tags: Arctic Competition, Australia, China, Mining, Satellites, and United States What Is China Doing in Antarctica? December 12, 2025 By: Brandon J. Weichert
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A strategic advantage in Antarctica could give China a critical advantage in space—as well as the opportunity to exploit the continent’s vast untapped natural resources.
When asked who she believed was winning the race for Antarctica, Dr. Elizabeth Buchanan, an Australia-based expert on the polar regions, recently told me that she believed it was China. She then clarified that the Chinese were not “winning”—they had, in fact, already won the race for the Antarctic, and the West was only now waking up to that sad and terrifying reality.
This, of course, begs the question: what, precisely, are the Chinese up to in the Antarctic, and why does it matter?
China’s Activities in Antarctica Worry America and Australia
For starters, China is opening new bases throughout Antarctica at breakneck speeds. As Dr. Buchanan, author of So You Want to Own Greenland? and Red Arctic, told me, these Chinese bases are not just snow-covered research facilities. They are being used to test a variety of advanced technologies and military gear that will impact global affairs for decades to come.
In a commentary for the Lowy Institute Interpreter published on April 9, 2024, Benjamin J. Sacks and Peter Dortmans explained that China’s Qinling base, its third permanent Antarctic station, “has worried some Australian and American observers” because of its proximity to America’s sensitive McMurdo Station research facility.
Qinling’s “satellite monitoring facility has raised Western apprehensions,” the two authors stated. They further explained that “Qinling could become another node in China’s People’s Liberation Army-affiliated BeiDou navigation network and be used to monitor Australian and New Zealand communications.”
The Path to Space Dominance Runs Through Antarctica
More to the point, China can incorporate their Antarctica possessions into their growing global network of advanced satellite systems—all of which are direct challenges to the United States’ once-unquestioned dominant position in space. Indeed, space and the polar regions on Earth are inexorably linked.
Control the two poles and you can dominate the strategic high ground of space. Polar orbits provide a near-90-degree vantage for satellites in polar orbits of the Earth below. This, in turn, allows for satellites to map the entire planet as it rotates below them. For military purposes, this gives whichever country is operating in polar orbits (and controlling satellite downlinks in the polar regions) excellent surveillance, as well as global communications capabilities. (Today, both Iridium and Starlink operate in these orbits.)
Early missile warning systems and the ability to monitor strategic shipping lanes as they open due to changing climate in the Polar Regions are advantages that polar orbiting satellites enjoy.
The Arctic Has Mining Opportunities, Too
But China’s interest in Antarctica goes beyond simply wanting to have an advantageous position in the polar orbits above. Antarctica is a veritable bonanza of untapped resources waiting to be had—and the Chinese want those resources.
Coal, iron, copper, gold, silver, nickel, chromium, uranium, and platinum are all found in abundance in Antarctica. There are coal, petroleum, and natural gas deposits in substantial amounts (particularly beneath the ice sheets and on continental shelves), as well as potentially diamonds on the mysterious ice-covered continent.
China recognizes that the continent is a dormant but viable source of massive resource and mineral wealth that no nation has yet tapped into.
Evoking Dr. Buchanan once more, the fact that China has obsessively inserted itself into the continent’s affairs indicates that there is more than just passing scientific interest on Beijing’s part. “Presence equals power,” Buchanan asserts. Beijing wants the “right to speak” in Antarctic regional affairs.
The RAND Corporation frets that this “right to speak” might be China’s backdoor attempt “to shift the balance of Antarctic influence in [Beijing’s] favor ahead of any future Antarctic Territory renegotiation […] especially in regard to krill fishing and mining, both of which fall under China’s vague goal of Antarctic ‘utilization.’”
Unlike the Americans, Australians, and Europeans, China has a comprehensive strategy for dominating the Antarctic region and using it for their own purposes. The Western powers will still be carping over the details of the essentially-defunct Antarctic Treaty while China does as it pleases on the frozen continent.
With all the talk about Western Hemispheric Defense and the need for a “Golden Dome” national space-based missile defense system coming from Washington, the White House must understand allowing either Antarctica or the Arctic regions to fall to China (or Russia) would effectively render moot any attempts to assert US dominance in the Western Hemisphere or in space.
America must lead and dominate the polar regions before Beijing can.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert is a senior national security editor at The National Interest. Recently, Weichert became the host of The National Security Hour on America Outloud News and iHeartRadio, where he discusses national security policy every Wednesday at 8pm Eastern. Weichert hosts a companion book talk series on Rumble entitled “National Security Talk.” He is also a contributor at Popular Mechanics and has consulted regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including The Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, and the Asia Times. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
Image: Shutterstock / Mozgova.
The post What Is China Doing in Antarctica? appeared first on The National Interest.
Источник: nationalinterest.org