The Asian Forum for Polar Sciences: Fostering Asian co-operation in Antarctica A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Andrea Colombo Gateway Antarctica University of Canterbury 2018 Table of Contents Table of Contents ...................................................................................................i List of Figures ....................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ....................................................................................................... vii Abstract ................................................................................................................ ix Acronyms and abbreviations ............................................................................... xi Acknowledgments .............................................................................................. xiv Chapter I: The Asian Forum for Polar Sciences: 1an assessment of regional co- operation ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 2 1.2 Asia and the polar regions ......................................................................................... 6 1.3 Asian countries and AFoPS membership .................................................................. 9 1.4 AFoPS Member countries ......................................................................................... 12 1.4.1 Japan (AFoPS Member since 2003) .................................................................... 13 1.4.2 Republic of Korea (AFoPS Member since 2003) ............................................... 14 1.4.3 The People’s Republic of China (AFoPS Member since 2003) ......................... 15 1.4.4 India (AFoPS Member since 2007) .................................................................... 18 i 1.4.5 Malaysia (AFoPS Member since 2007) .............................................................. 19 1.4.6 Thailand (AFoPS Member since 2017) ............................................................. 20 1.5 Aims and objectives .................................................................................................. 21 1.6 Discussion ................................................................................................................ 22 1.6.1 Towards a better understanding of AFoPS ....................................................... 23 1.6.2 AFoPS role in Antarctic governance and science ............................................ 24 1.6.3 Asian countries’ governance and scientific presence in Antarctica ............... 26 1.6.4 Will a joint Asian station be possible in Antarctica? ...................................... 27 1.7 Outline and structure of the thesis ......................................................................... 28 Chapter II: Methods ............................................................................................ 32 2.1 Qualitative analysis .................................................................................................. 34 2.1.1 Sample group...................................................................................................... 36 2.1.2 Data analysis ...................................................................................................... 37 2.1.3 Ethics .................................................................................................................. 38 2.2 Quantitative analysis ............................................................................................... 38 2.2.1 Papers for policy making ................................................................................... 39 2.2.2 Bibliometric analysis ......................................................................................... 40 2.3 Participant observation ............................................................................................ 41 2.4 Possible limitations .................................................................................................. 41 ii Chapter III: International co-operation in Antarctica: the influence of regional groups .................................................................................................................. 43 3.1 Region and Regionalism .......................................................................................... 45 3.1.1 Regionalism vs Nationalism .............................................................................. 46 3.2 Intra-Antarctic Regionalism .................................................................................... 51 3.2.1 East Antarctica ................................................................................................... 52 3.2.2 West Antarctica ................................................................................................ 57 3.2.3 Regionalism and co-operation ......................................................................... 59 3.3 Extra-Antarctic Regionalism ................................................................................... 60 3.3.1 The Asian Forum for Polar Sciences (AFoPS) .................................................. 62 3.3.2 The European Polar Board (EPB) ..................................................................... 66 3.3.3 The Reunión de Administradores de Programas Antárticos Latinoamericanos (RAPAL) ..................................................................................................................... 70 3.3.4 Co-operation beyond regional groups ............................................................. 73 3.4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 76 Chapter IV: Assessing Asian engagement in Antarctica through bibliometric analysis ................................................................................................................ 78 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 80 4.1.1 Is scientific research concealing geopolitical interests? .................................. 80 4.1.2 Scientific research serving Antarctic Treaty policies ...................................... 88 iii 4.1.3 Scientific research outputs and outreach ......................................................... 90 4.1.4 Asian presence in Antarctica ............................................................................ 92 4.2 Methods ................................................................................................................... 93 4.3 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) ................................................... 96 4.3.1 Papers submitted to Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings (ATCMs) and Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP) .................................................... 97 4.3.2 Co-authored papers submitted to Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings 103 4.4 Scientific publications ............................................................................................ 107 4.4.1 Scopus ............................................................................................................... 109 4.4.2 Web of Science (WoS) ..................................................................................... 111 4.4.3 AFoPS influence in publications ...................................................................... 113 4.5 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 115 Chapter V: Shared or joint facilities: the dichotomy of human presence in Antarctica ........................................................................................................... 119 5.1 Background............................................................................................................... 121 5.2 Asian Assets in Antarctica ...................................................................................... 123 5.3 The analogies between Antarctica and Outer Space ............................................ 128 5.4 Co-operative Initiatives in Outer Space ................................................................ 132 5.5 Co-operative Initiatives in Antarctica ................................................................... 135 5.5.1 Modalities of co-operative use of facilities ...................................................... 136 iv 5.5.2 Station transfer ................................................................................................ 138 5.5.3 The unique example of joint facility ............................................................... 139 5.6 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 140 Chapter VI: Synthesis and Conclusions ............................................................. 145 6.1 Presence in the Antarctic Treaty System ............................................................... 145 6.2 Scientific participation ........................................................................................... 154 6.3 Regionalism and co-operation ............................................................................... 156 6.4 Future