Which piece of land did the Beiyang government acquire in the Arctic and made great contributions?

In the impression of most people in China, China's territory is concentrated in Asia, and there is no land overseas. But in fact, China still has a "land", which is 3,000 kilometers away overseas, on the edge of Europe and above the Arctic Ocean! China citizens are free to enter and stay. This land is Svalbard, located in the Arctic Circle, on the edge of Europe.

Svalbard is located in the Arctic Circle, surrounded by Barents Sea, Greenland Sea and Arctic Ocean. Since two or three hundred years ago, the archipelago has been the base camp for geographical discovery in the Arctic. The new Olsen in Svalbard is one of the starting points for human beings to March into the North Pole.

/kloc-in the 6th century, Dutch explorers discovered this place; After that, Americans, Norwegians and Italians came here one after another and flew planes or airships from here to the North Pole. At the beginning of the 20th century, European countries discovered that Svalbard was rich in natural resources, so they successively claimed sovereignty over the island. For this resource, European countries often have wars. If no treaty is concluded, European countries may have a war over Svalbard.

In this case, European countries signed the Svalbard Treaty in 1925.

1The Treaty of Svalbard, which came into effect in August, 925, stipulates that the islands shall not be used for military purposes, and the contracting parties may freely enter and leave the island without a visa in accordance with Norwegian law, and enjoy the right to fish and hunt in Spitsbergen and its territorial waters, the right to conduct marine, industrial, mining and commercial activities, and the right to conduct scientific research activities.

At that time, China was in a chaotic period of controlling Beiyang government. Warlords from all walks of life competed for territory, and the Beiyang government in the period did not have the luxury to manage this treaty. However, pies fell from the sky. 1925, the French government sent representatives to take the initiative to find the government of Duan Republic, and wanted Duan to send representatives to sign it, and also wanted China to recognize the treaty.

It was a good thing that Duan did not give face to the French ambassador, so he sent someone to sign it casually without mentioning it. After all, this treaty really had no substantive effect on China at that time. At that time, people lived in poverty, so no one could go to this country to engage in scientific experiments.

duan qirui

However, the Beiyang government has no intention of planting willows in the shade in Duan. The land that the French inadvertently gave to China at that time has now played a great role.

It was not until 199 1 that China really began to exercise its power as a signatory to the treaty: to send people to snow areas thousands of miles away for scientific investigation. It was not the government's behavior that contributed to all this, but an explorer engaged in folk scientific investigation-China explorer Gao.

199 1 In the autumn of, China explorer Gao was invited by Professor Y Ye Xin of the University of Bergen, Norway, to participate in a comprehensive scientific expedition to the Arctic jointly conducted by scientists from Norway, the Soviet Union, China and Iceland. On August 5, at 199 14, the five-star red flag fluttered on the ice floe at 8 1 degree north latitude. China 10 year's folk Arctic scientific research was started, which laid the foundation for the government's Arctic scientific research.

According to Gao's words, the greatest achievement of this expedition is to see the English version of the Svalbard Treaty in the Arctic Guide presented by the professor. He mentioned in the book that China is a signatory to the Svalbard Treaty, and Professor Ye Xin suggested that he propose to China to establish a scientific research station in Svalbard.

The original Svalbard Treaty provided a legal basis for China people to establish the North Pole Station.

Svalbard treaty

However, due to the time, when Gao first brought the Svalbard Treaty back to China, few people really understood it. This news later attracted people's attention. The Chinese Academy of Sciences instructed the China Scientific Investigation Association to promote this matter, and added a sub-topic "Investigation and Research on the Construction of Svalbard Scientific Station in the Arctic" to the Ninth Five-Year Plan of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In an interview with reporters, Gao once said: "We have made some achievements in the Arctic scientific investigation, but more importantly, we have made the country determined to support the Arctic scientific investigation. The establishment of China's Arctic Yellow River Station was actually promoted by China scientists through non-governmental organizations. The Svalbard Treaty is one of the fundamental foundations. "

With such a treaty, China, which has nothing to do with the Arctic geographically, will have the right to speak in the Arctic region. I have to say that this is a precious wealth left by Beiyang government to future generations nearly 100 years ago.

China is a latecomer to polar scientific exploration. Since 1980s, with the pace of reform and opening up, China's polar exploration has taken a historic step. In that year, China established the Great Wall Station (1984) and Zhongshan Station (1989) on the Antarctic continent for the first time.

Then China marched into the North Pole. Around 2000, China sent the icebreaker "Snow Dragon" to the Arctic twice for scientific investigation, and collected a lot of data and information, and gained a lot of knowledge about the Arctic.

Inauguration ceremony of Arctic scientific research station

On July 28th, 2004, China established the Yellow River Station, China's first Arctic scientific research station, as the base of Arctic scientific research activities.

The Yellow River Station is the eighth national scientific research station in the Arctic. At present, the Yellow River Station is adjacent to scientific research stations in seven countries, including Norway, Germany, France, Britain, Russia and the United States. These exploration and investigation activities have greatly enriched the civilization history of human development.

Today, Svalbard has gathered many scientists from all over the world and become a hot spot in polar research similar to Antarctica.

Nearly 100 years has passed, and now it seems that this "land" obtained by Beiyang government for China in the Arctic is priceless! Made great contributions to the motherland!