China’s Arctic Ambitions and What They Mean for Canada by P Whitney Lackenbauer, Adam Lajeunesse, James Manicom, and Frédéric Lasserre, eds.
| Author | Adam P MacDonald |
| Date | 01 September 2018 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020702018794196 |
| Published date | 01 September 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Mike’s world was a world of tumult: two world wars, the Great Depression, the
Cold War, and then, to cap it off, the tendentious Sixties. Mr Pearson triumphed as
a diplomat, but less so as a politician. Stephen Azzi makes this point well: ‘‘he was
the consummate insider in a time of rebellion, a senior citizen in an age of youth, a
weak public speaker in an era of stirring oratory, a man who looked uncertain in a
period of passionate conviction’’ (107). Yet Mr Pearson soldiered on, and when the
dust of political controversy finally settled, Canada had been transformed by
Medicare, the Canada Pension Plan, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, a
Canadian flag, and Expo 67, as much as Canadian foreign policy had earlier
been reinvented by Pearson through NATO and peacekeeping. Idealistic goals,
tempered by realism about capabilities and context, may not be such a bad formula
after all.
P Whitney Lackenbauer, Adam Lajeunesse, James Manicom, and Fre
´de
´ric Lasserre, eds.
China’s Arctic Ambitions and What They Mean for Canada
Calgary: Calgary University Press, 2018. 262 pp.
ISBN: 978-1552389010, $34.99 CAD / $34.99 USD (Paperback)
Reviewed by: Adam P MacDonald (adam.macdonald@dal.ca), Department of Political
Science, Dalhousie University, Canada
There is a strong current in recent commentary that China—as a large, authori-
tarian, energy-hungry, and strategically ambiguous external actor—is manoeuvring
to undermine regional order and the sovereignty of the Arctic States in its quest to
secure access to shipping lanes and natural resources, and extend its global reach as
a great power. China’s Arctic Ambitions (coincidentally released the same day as
China’s Arctic Policy) is a timely and much-needed contribution taking direct aim
at the hyperbole and alarmism populating this emerging area of study. This
balanced, well-researched, and logically-argued book demonstrates that contrary
to depictions of the country as a polar menace, China is by and large operating
within the rules and existing relationships of the Arctic—including respecting state
jurisdictions and legal frameworks—and is expected to continue to do so in the
future. Such status-quo behaviour is not necessarily indicative that China is an
entirely benign agent, but rather that Beijing understands that its interests are best
pursued within the current regional political architecture versus attempting to
undermine or outright challenging it. The authors systematically review the role
of the Arctic in China’s grand strategy, distil their regional engagement into dis-
crete issue areas (polar science, shipping, natural resources, and Arctic govern-
ance), and compare these to Canada’s Arctic policy to determine their
commensurability with Canadian declaratory interests and priorities.
Beginning with a succinct review of the ‘‘Conflict School,’’ a designation applied
to commentators who emphasize the dangers associated with a more Arctic-cap-
able and interested China, the authors demonstrate how these arguments are more
conjecture than empirical fact, and largely stem from Rise of China literature which
486 International Journal 73(3)
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