Since 1999, the China National Arctic Research Expedition has carried out seven cruise missions in the Arctic Ocean using the icebreaker Xuelong, and has established two research stations, the Yellow River Station at Ny Alysund in Norway and the Joint China-Iceland Aurora Observatory in Kallhor, Iceland. According to Huigen YANG, director of Polar Research Institute of China, changes in the Arctic directly affect China, especially its sea level when Arctic glaciers and the Greenland ice sheet melt. Arctic warming may also open new sea routes between East Asia and North America and Europe when the Suez Canal and Panama Canal are reaching their full capacity.
CAS news release, April 10, 2017