Conference Report: China's Arctic Aspriations
This report accounts for a mini-conference on China’s aspirations in the Arctic region that ThinkChina.dk organized in collaboration with the Centre for Military Studies at the University of Copenhagen and NIAS, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, on April 17, 2013.
The conference featured as its keynote speaker Dr. Linda Jakobson, the East Asia Programme Director of Lowy Institute for International Policy in Australia, and a leading scholar on Chinese foreign- and security policy. Linda recently published a report for SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which served as a point of departure for the conference.
The second half of the conference featured the following seven panelists, who gave brief presentations with different perspectives on China’s relations with the Arctic region, followed by a plenary debate:
Dr. Uffe Jakobsen, associate professor, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, former Vice President of the University of Greenland
- Martin Breum, journalist, author of books on Greenland's role and position in the Arctic area
- Dr. Aki Tonami, researcher, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
- Kasandra Behrndt-Eriksen, ph.d.-researcher, University of Copenhagen
- Dr. Rasmus Gjedssø Bertelsen, ph.d., postdoc, Aalborg University
- Dr. Damien Degeorges, ph.d., founder, Arctic Policy and Economic Forum
- Dr. Kristian Søby Kristensen, senior researcher, Centre for Military Studies, University of Copenhagen
Hosting the conference was Professor Bertel Heurlin, co-coordinator of ThinkChina.dk.