{"id":31143,"date":"2025-07-05T09:00:55","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T09:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=31143"},"modified":"2025-07-05T09:26:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T09:26:28","slug":"u-s-science-cuts-in-antarctica-may-embolden-china-and-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=31143","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Science Cuts in Antarctica May Embolden China and Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Milan is about 10,000 miles, as the albatross flies, from McMurdo Station, the United States\u2019 main outpost in Antarctica. But from late June to early July, representatives of 58 nations gathered in the Italian fashion capital for discussions about the remote continent\u2019s present and future.<\/p>\n

Difficult questions hung over the meeting: Will the southernmost continent remain a place for science and peace? Or will it become another object of territorial competition among great powers?<\/p>\n

Antarctica is governed by the Antarctic Treaty, in force since 1961, stipulating that it is a refuge for peace and science, with military activity prohibited, and the environment protected. The document promotes international collaboration and lays aside the territorial claims of seven countries, which have all agreed not to act on their claimed ownership.<\/p>\n

Ever since the treaty was signed, conflict has stayed farther north. \u201cIt was known as Antarctic exceptionalism,\u201d said Jeffrey McGee, a law professor and Antarctic Treaty expert at the University of Tasmania.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Recently, though, that precedent has started to face strain. The world, Dr. McGee said, is turbulent, and its big players \u2014 the United States, Russia, China \u2014 are also the big players near the South Pole. \u201cWe\u2019d be a little bit na\u00efve to think that this isn\u2019t going to affect the Antarctic Treaty system and the Antarctic region,\u201d he added, referring to the dynamics that shape the rest of the world coming to Antarctica.<\/p>\n

China and Russia are working on expansions to their own scientific facilities in Antarctica and some experts suspect the countries\u2019 infrastructure could have<\/a> nonpeaceful uses. And a committee of the British House of Commons has questioned<\/a> the purpose of Russian seismic surveys, suggesting they represented potential oil prospecting, rather than scientific exploration. (China and Russia\u2019s treaty representatives did not reply to emailed requests for comment).<\/p>\n

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Milan is about 10,000 miles, as the albatross flies, from McMurdo Station, the United States\u2019 main outpost in Antarctica. But from late June to early July, representatives of 58 nations gathered in the Italian fashion capital for discussions about the remote continent\u2019s present and future.Difficult questions hung over the meeting: Will the southernmost continent remain a place for science and peace? Or will it become another object of territorial competition among great powers?Antarctica is governed by the Antarctic Treaty, in force since 1961, stipulating that it is a refuge for peace and science, with military activity prohibited, and the environment protected. The document promotes international collaboration and lays aside the territorial claims of seven countries, which have all agreed not to act on their claimed ownership.Ever since the treaty was signed, conflict has stayed farther north. \u201cIt was known as Antarctic exceptionalism,\u201d said Jeffrey McGee, a law professor and Antarctic Treaty expert at the University of Tasmania.Recently, though, that precedent has started to face strain. The world, Dr. McGee said, is turbulent, and its big players \u2014 the United States, Russia, China \u2014 are also the big players near the South Pole. \u201cWe\u2019d be a little bit na\u00efve to think that this isn\u2019t going to affect the Antarctic Treaty system and the Antarctic region,\u201d he added, referring to the dynamics that shape the rest of the world coming to Antarctica.China and Russia are working on expansions to their own scientific facilities in Antarctica and some experts suspect the countries\u2019 infrastructure could have nonpeaceful uses. And a committee of the British House of Commons has questioned the purpose of Russian seismic surveys, suggesting they represented potential oil prospecting, rather than scientific exploration. (China and Russia\u2019s treaty representatives did not reply to emailed requests for comment).We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31145,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31143"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31146,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31143\/revisions\/31146"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}