Nation aims to boost research, commerce in region

China's growing role in the Arctic will foster a win-win situation for all, said the head of the polar strategic research division under the Polar Research Institute of China.

"Infrastructure in the Arctic is weak, and it urgently needs Chinese labor and capital, while China can learn about advances in environmental protection and technologies during its engagement," said Zhang Xia, who is also deputy director of the China-Nordic Arctic Research Center.

Besides academic research, China should strengthen international cooperation in the area because it could become a geopolitical arena for scientific research and commerce, he said.