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Asian Futures presents Mia Bennett (University of Washington)
China has expanded its scientific capabilities in the Arctic with research stations and icebreakers. Yet, little attention has been paid to the country’s growing remote sensing capabilities. China launched its first polar observing satellite in 2019. Next year, it will launch SAR satellites to monitor Arctic shipping. While these satellites allow Beijing to gather information about a distant region, they also constitute a technology permitting it to participate in this critical region’s emerging governance. As remote sensing and computationally-intensive techniques become preferred decision-making tools within global governance — and as China becomes a key producer of valuable satellite data — its ability to intervene in the region is likely to grow. This talk will examine the origins and potential implications of this shift on Arctic governance.
Mia Bennett is assistant professor of geography at the University of Washington. Her research focuses on the geopolitics of infrastructure development in remote regions, particularly the Arctic, and combines critical remote sensing and fieldwork. She also is the founding editor of a long-running blog on the Arctic, Cryopolitics.
Asian Futures is funded by a grant from the Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme and supported by the Humanities Collaboratory
