Constructing the “Near-Arctic” narrative: the emergence of China in the Arctic security governance

Abstract

As the Arctic “melts” due to rising temperatures, the greater accessibility of waterways and resources has attracted increasing attention. The governance of these opportunities and challenges has increasingly overlapped with security practices, and there is now the potential to develop a more sophisticated security governance system. In the currently evolving regional context, China has shown great interest in regional environmental governance and economic development, which has triggered Arctic actors’ (including Arctic states and regional organisations) discourse construction regarding the influence of China’s existing and potential involvement.
China issued China’s Arctic Policy White Paper in 2018, calling itself a “Near-Arctic State” to highlight the legitimacy of participating in Arctic governance. Among many non-Arctic states, China, with such strong political signalling, deserves investigation. To examine those interactions and roles, this thesis applies the Securitisation Theory.
This thesis studies the security discourses of Arctic actors, including eight Arctic states and three regional organisations, in the military, environmental, and economic sectors. The Arctic Actors constructed China as multiple roles in discourses related to Threat Construction, Referent Object Construction, and Security Practice. This thesis also studies China’s discourse and practice in the three sectors. It argues that the security discourse of Arctic actors has shaped the regional security by constructing China as a threat, a referent object, and part of security practices in different sectors. China’s discourse and practices have attempted to refute some of the threat constructions and to promote its positive influence in regional (security) affairs. Regardless of whether China’s influence in regional affairs is passive or active, and irrespective of whether the role ascribed to it by Arctic actors is perceived as positive or negative, China’s participation has exerted a catalytic effect on the (potential) institutional building of contemporary Arctic security governance.

Date of Award	15 Jun 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Nottingham
Supervisor	Maria Julia Trombetta (Supervisor) & Grant Dawson (Supervisor)