Why China plays by the rules in the Arctic

China has no Arctic territory, calls itself a near-Arctic state, and has  worked its way into almost every legal regime in the region. 

FNI Senior Researcher Iselin Stensdal talks about international law as China's way in. The conversation covers the Law of the Sea and the Northern Sea Route, the Central Arctic Ocean Fisheries Agreement, the Svalbard Treaty, research rights at Ny-Ålesund, and why China keeps playing by the rules. The closing argument: the Arctic may matter far less to Beijing than the headlines suggest.