China finished its 39th Antarctic expedition in early April, with tasks including research on global climate change, the replenishment of materials and staff rotation at two stations in the South Pole.

Since it started expeditions to the Antarctic in 1984, the country has built a polar monitoring system consisting of research ships, fixed-wing polar aircraft and an autonomous underwater robot, said Liu Jiaqi, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and researcher at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of CAS, according to a report published by the People's Daily in March.

During nearly 40 years of research, the country has studied the region's ecological environment, climate evolution and geology, and drawn up the first topographical map of the interior Antarctic, Liu added.

Why build the fifth research station?

China has built four research stations in Antarctic region – Great Wall, Zhongshan, Kunlun and Taishan stations – and is now constructing its fifth.

The new research base, on Inexpressible Island in Terra Nova Bay in the Ross Sea, will be built for environmental monitoring and protection, providing a guarantee for investigations and serving rescue and emergency facilities, according to a Xinhua report in 2017.

The new station will fill in the gap in China's Antarctic research, since the Great Wall and Zhongshan stations cover the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean, respectively. 

China's Antarctic activity limited for peaceful purposes

Since China became a consultative party under the Antarctic Treaty in 1958, the country's Antarctic activity has been limited to peaceful purposes, Chen Hong, executive director at Asia Pacific Studies Center of the East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

The country's fifth research station will be equipped with a helipad and an icebreaker dock only in accordance with its scientific activities, Chen said, adding that there is no evidence that China's scientific research activities in Antarctica have a military purpose.

(With input from Xinhua)