A delegation of Chinese research institutes, which included a military expert, made a Purchase Proposal to the City of Kemijärvi in January 2018. The matter will only be announced now.
The delegation was led by Xia Zhang, Director of the China Polar Research Institute and Xu Shije, Director of the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration. There was also a major at the party Lie Ji, Assistant Attaché to the Chinese Embassy Army.
The goal of the Chinese research institute was to establish an Arctic climate and environmental research air base extending to the North Pole region, according to the mayor of Kemijärvi Atte Rantanen.
"Their intention was to conduct Arctic exploration of the polar ice sheet, and they would have needed a base for these activities in Lake Kemijärvi. A large jet with various measuring devices would have come here, and they would have flown to the North Pole, made their measurements, and flew back," Rantanen explains.
The flight route would have made it possible to make observations also across the Arctic Ocean and the Northeast Passage, which is of interest to both China and Russia.
"The Northeast Passage is an important area and, of course, all the great powers are interested in what kind of traffic is possible there," Rantanen points out.
https://nord.news/2021/03/04/t...
