The People's Republic of China has recently cast itself as an Arctic nation. In addition to acquiring two icebreakers and building an enormous embassy in Reykjavik, Iceland, Beijing has formally applied for "observer status" in the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum of Arctic states founded by the United States and seven other countries in 1996.
Beijing hopes to maximize its influence in the Council, as that body takes on more importance in managing the vast Arctic-a region with enormous economic, environmental, and potentially even military significance. As Gustav Lind, Sweden's Arctic ambassador and the Council's outgoing chair, told the New York Times last year: "We've changed from a forum to a decision-making body."
At a May 15th meeting in Kiruna, Sweden, which Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to attend, the Arctic Council will consider China's application along with those of several other aspirants, including the European Union. Council decisions are made by consensus, and the Wall Street Journal reports that the Obama administration has not yet decided whether it will support or oppose Beijing's drive for observer status. The United States should reject China's application, based on both the Arctic Council's formal criteria and Beijing's disregard for the values the Arctic Council is intended to uphold.
Washington probably hoped to sidestep responsibility for dealing with China's application for observer status. It was widely expected that Norway would thwart Beijing's candidacy in light of the harsh retaliation Oslo received after the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize went to Liu Xiaobo. In 2009, China sentenced Liu to 11 years in jail for his writings about political liberties and his signing of Charter 08, a democracy and human rights manifesto initially signed by over 350 Chinese intellectuals and activists on the 60th anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Beijing's desire to participate in the Arctic Council gave Norway a valuable card to play on Liu's behalf. As Leiv Lunde of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute told The Guardian in March: "There are not many areas where Norway is important to China at all, but the Arctic is one of them." But Norway has apparently sold itself-and Liu Xiaobo-short by accepting Chinese promises to end its bullying in exchange for Oslo changing its position on the observer application. It would be irresponsible to reward Beijing's tactic of behaving aggressively to win concessions and then gain credit for ending its bad behavior. Other members of the Council should also use the leverage Beijing's application provides to press for Liu Xiaobo's release.
With Norway committed to supporting Beijing, the burden is now on the United States to stop Beijing's application. The clearest reason to block China's application to the Arctic Council is its disregard of its neighbors' claims to sovereignty in the South China Sea and East China Sea, where Beijing has engaged in dangerous provocations in recent months. In fact, China's official newspaper published an article last week claiming that China may own Okinawa, the home to some 1.3 million Japanese citizens. Clearly this behavior falls short of the respect for other states' sovereignty required of observers.
China's treatment of Tibet is another indicator why it does not belong on the Arctic Council. Over and above the violation of Tibet's sovereignty, Beijing's policies of repression, environmental degradation, and the influx of ethnic Han Chinese into Tibet make China an unsuitable participant in the Arctic Council, which requires observers to respect the Arctic's indigenous peoples. Although most Tibetans would not consider themselves indigenous to China, the Chinese Communist Party's condescension toward Tibetan civilization and the justification of its invasion as "liberation" is a relevant consideration for Arctic states.
Furthermore, Council proceedings are distinguished by the participation of non-governmental organizations on an equal footing. Civil society in China is tightly controlled and groups that attempt to mobilize public opinion find themselves harassed and often shut down. The Arctic Council members should not fool themselves once admitted as a permanent observer, Beijing's Communist leaders will change.
Beijing's application forces the Arctic Council's members to ask themselves what kind of organization they want. Although the Ottawa Declaration, the Arctic Council's founding document, makes no express reference to democracy and the rule of law as criteria for membership or observer status, all of the Council's founding member countries were democracies at the time. Russia, an original member of the Arctic Council, has seen political regression under Vladimir Putin, and is designated "not free" by Freedom House. That is no reason to compromise standards to approve China's observer status. Indeed, all of the other current observer states-namely, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom-are democracies. This standard will become more important as the Council's responsibilities and influence expand.
At a recent academic conference, experts predicted that although Beijing's application will succeed, Canada will likely block the European Union's application for observer status because of a feud over the EU's on ban seal products. If China's application succeeds and the EU's application fails, that outcome would reflect badly on the Arctic Council and every one of its members.