Exclusive: How Chinese nationalism is sending jitters through the Arctic

Jane Tang for RFA Investigative2024.11.07

This story was reported with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Read their story here

On an early morning in late July, a luxury expedition cruise ship, boasting the latest in high-end Arctic travel, made a slow approach to the docks of Ny-Ålesund, a remote settlement in Norway’s Svalbard Islands.

At 79 degrees north latitude, Ny-Ålesund is the northernmost inhabited outpost on Earth. Isolated in the Arctic’s desolate winter, it hosts just 30 year-round residents.

Newayer, a Chinese travel agency, chartered the vessel for 183 tourists from Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing. Each passenger paid at least $13,000 for a two-week “Three Arctic Islands” tour, marketed as an exclusive opportunity to reach the “top of the Earth,” complete with “the luxury of Chinese hospitality.”

Clad in matching red jackets bearing a polar bear logo, the travelers disembarked at their first stop: China’s Yellow River Research Station in Ny-Ålesund.

There they marked the 20th anniversary of the station – one of several research facilities established on Svalbard by different nations. More than 100 Chinese tourists waved national flags beneath a Chinese Communist Party-style banner hung on the research station’s door. The travel agency’s blog likened the celebration to “raising the Chinese national flag during the Olympics.”

Among the participants, a woman in a People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, uniform was seen saluting and posing for photos. A PLA Ground Force patch is visible on her right arm, two professional cameras are slung over her shoulders.

The episode has raised serious alarm in Norway, according to experts and government discussions reviewed by RFA and NRK. Military function and symbolism on Svalbard is highly restricted, and a treaty that governs foreign presence on the island forbids military activity.

Yet Chinese interests have blatantly disregarded these prohibitions, in what experts say is a prime example of China’s increasing willingness to push the bounds of legal acceptability to exert its influence and power.

Indeed, RFA and NRK can reveal that at least eight tourists on the cruise were PLA veterans, with at least one still appearing to hold an on-going (though not active duty) role with the Chinese armed forces. The PLA-linked tourists participated in a co-ordinated display of nationalism in the Arctic while on board their cruise ship and on Svalbard.

The jingoistic displays align with what experts regard as “gray zone” tactics employed by Beijing, in which blurry lines between civilian and military actions are exploited to exert influence.

It comes as China-watchers warn that the West is ill-prepared to address the geopolitical consequences of this flexing of power.

“The big picture of China’s ambitions in the Arctic is that it reflects a clear, long-term strategic goal: China wants to be a significant presence in the Arctic,” says Isaac Kardon, a senior fellow for China Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington D.C. think tank.

Since declaring itself a “near-Arctic state” in 2018—despite lacking territorial claims—China has steadily built its presence through legal, military, commercial, and individual channels.

Svalbard has become the latest frontline.

An Arctic Battleground for Great Powers

A remote Norwegian archipelago roughly twice the size of Hawaii, Svalbard lies less than 1,000 kilometers from the North Pole, some 650 kilometers north of mainland Norway.

A land of dramatic peaks and glaciers, its location is of strategic as well as scientific importance. Its proximity to Russia’s Kola Peninsula—home to the Russian Northern Fleet and nuclear submarines—positions it as a critical focal point for military and resource interests.

Radar data collected from Svalbard can aid in missile trajectory calculations and satellite calibration. Experts caution that, in the event of a war, missile routes could increasingly traverse the Arctic skies—covering the shortest distance from Beijing to Washington.

“The role Svalbard might play in a large-scale conflict involving the Arctic cannot be ignored,” warns a recent report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“If tensions with the United States continue to worsen, the Arctic becomes the only other viable route (for China) to Europe for significant volumes of energy,” says Kardon.

As melting ice opens up new shipping lanes, the waters around Svalbard are set to become even more pivotal in global trade and shifting geopolitical dynamics.

In the face of these changes, governance of Svalbard– until now a sleepy affair– has come into focus.

A 1920 treaty granted Norway sovereignty over the archipelago while allowing signatory nations to engage in peaceful scientific and economic activities. The treaty prohibits any “warlike purposes,” and gives Norway authority to enforce these restrictions on the islands.

Russia has had a decades-long presence, first with mining operations during the Cold War. Today, there is still an active mining town, Barentsburg, and a Russian research station.

China joined the Svalbard Treaty in 1925 but didn’t establish a scientific presence until 2004; the founding of the Yellow River Research Station marked a significant step forward in its Arctic ambitions.

According to China’s official website, the station supports scientific observation, monitoring, and research in glaciology, and conducts research in ecology, space physics, atmospheric studies, and geographic information. Its goal is to “contribute to global efforts in addressing climate change and other challenges,” the website says.

Not everyone is convinced that it is all benign.

“The fact is, when we’re talking about Russia and China, we are talking about authoritarian states. There’s no such thing really as a completely civilian, independent agency, especially one with very strong strategic implications,” says Marc Lanteigne, a Political Science professor at The Arctic University of Norway.

“Any activity, regardless of how civilian in nature it is, will produce information which will get back to the Chinese military.”

Last year, Russia held what Norwegian officials described as a militaristic parade in Barentsburg—something never before seen on Svalbard—in support of Moscow’s troops in Ukraine. Dozens of trucks, tractors, and snowmobiles moved through the town waving Russian flags. A Russian company was fined for unauthorized use of a Mi-8 helicopter that flew overhead.

Norway is concerned about the rise of Russian—and now Chinese—nationalist displays on the island, says Lanteigne.

An internal report from the Norwegian Polar Institute, the governing authority on Svalbard Island, sounded alarm over the high-profile July celebration staged by the cruise ship tourists in front of the Chinese research station.

The report, seen by RFA and NRK, found the activities “particularly problematic” as they showed a clear disregard for regulations. A month before the event, Norwegian authorities had explicitly denied the station permission to hang a celebratory banner given its nationalistic nature– but the station displayed it anyway, with Chinese scientists photographed posing in front of it.

The Institute noted that tourists appeared “well-prepared” with Chinese flags and stickers, and that photographs were organized in such a way that “it is likely that the photos will be used by the Chinese authorities.”

It made specific mention of the woman in the military fatigues, which they identified as PLA garb. The report noted that the authority was unsure what to do.

Camilla Brekke, Director of the Norwegian Polar Institute later told RFA and NRK: “New Ålesund is a Norwegian research station, and we do not see it as useful for the various institutions that rent premises there to hang banners, as we want a unified research nation.”

“It would not be a successful practice if various research institutions in Ny-Ålesund start hanging such banners on the houses they rent.”

Some experts fear the government has been caught on the back foot.

“I get the feeling that the Norwegian government is still playing catch-up on this,” says Lanteigne.

The government’s overall silence about its geopolitics has consequences according to Andreas Østhagen, a Senior Fellow at The Arctic Institute think tank. “When it comes to Svalbard and foreign and security policy, Norway’s strategy has been to sit quietly and do nothing,” he wrote.

“The less frank and transparent Norway is about issues pertaining to Svalbard, the more misunderstandings and conspiracy theories are likely to emerge, even among close allies.”

Following its internal report, the Norwegian government said its representatives had met with the Chinese embassy in Oslo and reiterated the expectations for international guests, emphasizing that “all activities in Ny-Ålesund must be civil.”

They requested an explanation of the person in military dress and were told that the person “was a private citizen or cruise tourist wearing military-style clothing deemed appropriate for the Arctic wilderness,” they told RFA and NRK.

The Chinese embassy in Norway said that the cruise passengers were private tourists visiting Svalbard independently. “The Chinese scientific team in Ny-Ålesund did not invite any tourists to participate in the relevant celebration activities,” the embassy told RFA and NRK.

“China has always actively participated in Arctic affairs in accordance with international law,” it said.

It did not directly address the questions of why banners and flags were displayed despite prior warnings and why military dress was allowed.

Entering the ‘gray zone’

Fan Li, the CEO of Newayer, the tour agency, told RFA and NRK that their tour group informed the research station of its plans to stage a celebration at Yellow River, and to hang banners and wave Chinese flags outside the station. The station never objected or even raised it as an issue.

“The staff at the Yellow River Station came out to engage with us, and everyone was quite happy about that,” Li told RFA and NRK.

A video of the tour group’s celebration was posted to Newayer’s social media account. It further features eight guests telling the camera that they are PLA veterans and perform coordinated military salutes to China while a patriotic song plays as a soundtrack. Afterward, passengers gathered to share their stories of service in the PLA.

Li said that the presence of veterans on board was merely a “coincidence” and that when Newayer realized the connection, the company organized a ceremony and incorporated the clip into its video.

According to Li, all of those featured were retired, as it’s difficult for active military members in China to travel abroad.

However, one cruise participant, who identifies herself in the video as Yin Liu, was photographed wearing military garb bearing the insignia of the PLA on Svalbard. On camera, Liu says she enlisted in 1976 and fought in Vietnam in 1984 and gave the name of her unit.

Ying Yu Lin, an expert on the PLA at Tamkang University in Taiwan, identified Liu’s fatigues as a “Type 21” training uniform issued by China’s Ministry of Defense in 2023. It is restricted to military personnel and would not be accessible to civilians, Lin said. The “Type 21” uniform can be seen on the Chinese Defense Department website.

Lin added that based on her age, the uniform, and other descriptions, it was likely that Liu was a member of a local militia unit. Militia units are one of three branches of the Chinese armed forces, the other two being the PLA and the People’s Armed Police, or PAP.

Attempts to reach Liu were unanswered by press time.

But regardless of her status or those of other PLA-linked tourists, “the sight of Chinese veterans waving national flags and performing salutes in the Arctic serves as an effective piece of internal propaganda,” says Lin. “While foreign observers may overlook it, within China, it symbolizes the assertion of influence in a geopolitically significant region.”

He added: “It’s about operating within legal ambiguities—pushing boundaries without directly violating laws. This time, we see veterans in PLA uniform; next time, it could be active-duty soldiers without the uniform, gradually testing international responses and how far they can go.”

These displays represent “classic ‘gray zone’ activity—conduct that doesn’t overtly breach regulations but pushes boundaries,” according to Kardon. “On one hand, it may appear as patriotic tourists expressing national pride; on the other, it subtly normalizes a more visible Chinese presence, legitimizing scientific activities that can serve dual purposes, like gathering environmental data and military intelligence.”

Such incidents can serve to gauge reactions, particularly from Norway and other Arctic nations, helping China understand which behaviors are tolerated, he said. “Given the strategic importance of the Arctic to the U.S., Russia, and increasingly China, there is little doubt that this expanding presence is deliberate.”

Questions of diplomacy

But sources familiar with diplomatic discussions say that Norway is unlikely to take a leading role in pushing back against China.

“Like many countries, Norway just doesn’t have a lot of equities in its dealings with China,” says Kardon. Overt criticism or perceived slights can cause notable damage, like in 2010, when Beijing banned imports of Norwegian salmon after its Nobel committee awarded the Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

But as long as that’s the case, room for more muscular tactics in the Arctic will grow. Last month as China celebrated the 75th anniversary of the People’s Republic, the Chinese Coast Guard engaged in joint operations with Russian forces in the Arctic. This was preceded in September by a meeting of Russian and Chinese officials in Beijing to discuss economic development and resource extraction in the region, and earlier, a Chinese and Russian meeting in Svalbard to explore opening a joint research center in Pyramiden, a former Soviet mining hub on the islands.

“So if you’re looking for a pattern here, I would say this is the latest version of what China and Russia are trying to do—find a way to get to the red line without crossing it,” says Lanteigne, referring to the Yellow River celebration incident. “It is a very subtle signal, one that really demonstrates that China is now starting to deviate more directly from Norway regarding what is and is not proper activity on Svalbard.”

Lanteigne views this as a pressing challenge that the Norwegian government must confront head-on.

“I think there needs to be the understanding that with the Arctic beginning to militarize as a whole, Svalbard is caught in it, whether it likes it or not.”

Edited by Boer Deng