Polar regions for global status: China’s great power discourse and status-seeking practice in the Arctic and Antarctic

This article explores how China’s polar activities are driven not just by rationalistic interests but also by China’s great power identity and a desire to signal status as a riposte to challenges to that status.

While previous literature has focused on China’s strategic and material interests in the polar regions, this article suggests that China engages in activities such as establishing polar stations, expanding its icebreaker fleet, and showing its flag in Antarctica and the Arctic in order to signal its desire for global status as a great power. These practices may be rationalised in terms of material and strategic interests but are ultimately an outcome of domestic discourse that problematises China’s need to keep up with peers’ capabilities and maintain its role as a global pivot. In the interaction between Chinese discourse and practice, China’s identity as a great power is constructed and renegotiated, laying the foundations for future discourse and practice.

Through a document-rich discourse analysis, the article argues that China uses three material practices in the polar regions as a means of aligning its identity with material greatness and solidifying its place among the world’s leading powers. China’s establishment of research stations in the polar regions is an iterative practice that demonstrates its presence and scientific capabilities. The construction of new icebreakers is a deliberate act of conspicuous consumption intended to demonstrate technological prowess and to keep pace with other major powers. By showing its flag in the polar regions through maritime expeditions, China also asserts its droit de regard in regional affairs and demonstrates its capacity for global power projection. The article seeks to complement rationalistic explanations of China’s polar policies and to contribute to the literature on how the status game guides state behaviour in international politics.