Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 05/2013

East Asian States, the Arctic Council and International Relations in the Arctic

James Manicom, P. Whitney Lackenbauer

April 2013

Centre for International Governance Innovation

Abstract

The significant changes taking place in the Arctic are attracting worldwide attention, often to the discomfort of Arctic states and peoples. This is no better demonstrated than by the East Asian states’ growing interest in Arctic issues. China, Japan and South Korea all bid for Arctic Council membership in 2009 and all have active polar research programs, but their interest has met with concern in several quarters. This policy brief suggests that the Arctic Council’s member states should welcome East Asian states as observers to enmesh them into “Arctic” ways of thinking.