With the same strength it apparently flexed in the Copenhagen climate talks, China has just stamped a giant footprint on Antarctica.
Previously it was simply not done for any country to say outright that it was interested in Antarctica for the resources it contains.
Now China has.
...the director of China's polar programs, Qu Tanzhou, "we are here about the potential of the resources and how to use these resources."
The Antarctic protocol is explicit about minerals. It forbids "any activity relating to mineral resources, other than scientific research". This ban can't be revisited until at least 2048 — or 50 years after the protocol came into force.
You might expect Antarctic Treaty nations would take on Beijing over minerals with the same vigour they showed in forcing a backdown from Moscow and Seoul.
But don't hold your breath.
The failure of the Copenhagen climate talks in December has been seen in retrospect as the doing of an intransigent China, marking a watershed in the balance of global power. Read full by Andrew Darby at Sydney Morning Herald