China Unveils Permanent Research Station South of Australia, New Zealand

“The station’s position may enable it to collect signals intelligence from U.S.-allied Australia and New Zealand,” one report said.

No other place on Earth is even remotely like Antarctica. The Artic may have glaciers, but Antarctica’s dwarfs them. Copyright Fred J. Eckert

China is unveiling a new Antarctic research station south of Australia that will be open year-round, according to Chinese state-owned media.

Qinling Station is ostensibly designed to study local ecology but could also be used to collect vast troves of signals intelligence from Australia and New Zealand, experts say.