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| Arctic Council Adds Six Members, Including China | Arctic Council Adds Six Members, Including China |
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| KIRUNA, Sweden — The Arctic Council agreed on Wednesday to expand to include six new nations, including China, as observer states, as a changing climate opens the Arctic to increasing economic and political competition. | KIRUNA, Sweden — The Arctic Council agreed on Wednesday to expand to include six new nations, including China, as observer states, as a changing climate opens the Arctic to increasing economic and political competition. |
| The inclusion of observer states to the council came after a spirited debated at the council’s biennial meeting and reflected the growing prominence of the issues facing the region. The council includes the eight Arctic nations: the United States, Canada, Russia, Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. | The inclusion of observer states to the council came after a spirited debated at the council’s biennial meeting and reflected the growing prominence of the issues facing the region. The council includes the eight Arctic nations: the United States, Canada, Russia, Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. |
| With the Arctic ice melting, the region’s abundant supplies of oil, gas and minerals have become newly accessible, as have shortened shipping routes and open water for commercial fishing, setting off a global competition for influence and economic opportunities far beyond the nations that border the Arctic. | |
| “There is nothing that should unite quite like our concerns for both the promises and the challenges of the northernmost reaches of the earth,” Secretary of State John Kerry, who brokered a compromise over the observer nations, said on Wednesday at the council’s final session. He added, “The consequences of our nations’ decision don’t stop at the 66th parallel.” | “There is nothing that should unite quite like our concerns for both the promises and the challenges of the northernmost reaches of the earth,” Secretary of State John Kerry, who brokered a compromise over the observer nations, said on Wednesday at the council’s final session. He added, “The consequences of our nations’ decision don’t stop at the 66th parallel.” |
| In addition to China, the other nations granted observer status to the Arctic Council were India, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Italy. All have sought economic opportunities in the region and viewed participation in the Arctic Council as a means of influencing the decisions of its permanent members. The European Union also applied as an observer but its final status remained unresolved pending resolution of a dispute with Canada over trade in some marine animal products. | |
| The council, created in 1996, has matured from a largely symbolic organization to one addressing the quickening pace and consequences of climate change in the Arctic. Meeting here above the Arctic Circle in Sweden, the council adopted only its second legally binding agreement: one to prepare and coordinate a response to potential spills that could result from increasing oil and gas exploration. Two years ago, in Greenland, the council adopted a similar agreement to coordinate search and rescue operations over 13 million square miles of ocean. | The council, created in 1996, has matured from a largely symbolic organization to one addressing the quickening pace and consequences of climate change in the Arctic. Meeting here above the Arctic Circle in Sweden, the council adopted only its second legally binding agreement: one to prepare and coordinate a response to potential spills that could result from increasing oil and gas exploration. Two years ago, in Greenland, the council adopted a similar agreement to coordinate search and rescue operations over 13 million square miles of ocean. |