In late February, the Department of Scandinavian Studies and the Jackson School of International Studies hosted Dr. Sanna Kopra, a Research Professor in Arctic Geopolitics and Security at the Arctic Centre of the University of Lapland in Finland. Dr. Kopra gave several talks to students and researchers in Scandinavian Studies and JSIS. Among these classroom visits and public lectures was a roundtable discussion on China in the Arctic.
Dr. Kopra argued that China’s approach to developing research and shipping access in the Arctic demonstrates a discursive shift from a territorial understanding of the Arctic to a global understanding of the Arctic. According to Dr. Kopra, this shift has caused friction with Nordic states, who perceive this shift as a general threat to their territories, sovereignty, and security. In particular the Nordic states fear the “dual-use” of new Chinese Arctic science stations for developing Chinese military capabilities in the Arctic.
Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Stutz, a U.S. Army War College (USAWC) Fellow at the UW Jackson School of International Studies, served as the respondent in the following discussion. He stressed the importance of communication between nations, even and especially when those nations have an adversarial relationship. “Friction is inevitable,” said Lt. Col. Stutz, who reminded attendees that the worst crises of the Cold War were avoided through diplomacy, communication, and understanding. He added that even while frictions existed between the Soviet Union and the USA, great advances were made in the space program through cooperation.
