Resembling a crucifix, like the Crux constellation or the
Southern Cross, the Qinling station will be staffed year-round
with quarters sufficient to house as many as 80 people in the
summer months, official media has previously said.
Perched on the rocky coast of Inexpressible Island in the icy
Ross Sea, Qinling is also situated near the permanently
inhabited U.S. McMurdo station.
China has four other research stations in other parts of
Antarctica that it previously built from 1985 to 2014 -
Zhongshan, Taishan, Kunlun and Great Wall - with two of them
also year-long stations like Qinling.
Construction of Qinling first broke ground in 2018, but its
launch was delayed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. In November,
China sent its biggest Antarctic fleet with more than 460
personnel to the site to help complete the station.
Qinling was expected to include an observatory with a satellite
ground station, and it would be well situated to collect signals
intelligence over Australia and New Zealand, the Center for
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report in
April.
Initial photographs of the station did not immediately show the
presence of a satellite ground station.
"The construction of China's Antarctic station is fully in line
with international rules and procedures concerning Antarctica,"
said Wang Wenbin, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, at a
regular news conference on Wednesday.
"It will be conducive to enhancing humanity's scientific
knowledge of Antarctica... and promote peace and sustainable
development in Antarctica," he added.
President Xi Jinping on Wednesday commended the opening of the
station and urged station workers to "better know, protect and
utilise the polar region" along with the international
community, Xinhua reported.
(Reporting by Albee Zhang and Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by
Joe Cash; Editing by Miral Fahmy)
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