China's fifth expedition station in the South Pole is ready to be built, indicating China's steady progress toward becoming a polar research power.
Since 1984, when China first set up Changcheng station in Antarctica, three more stations have followed. The latest one is to be located near the Ross Sea.
Wang Hong, head of the State Oceanic Administration, said China will speed up its efforts to establish a global oceanic observation network covering both the North and South Poles, and work to set up international cooperation platforms that promote cooperation on polar research, Guangming Daily reported.
Chinese scientists at the four existing stations have published a number of papers in international scientific journals. Over 12,000 meteorites have been collected by the four stations, yielding the third largest collection in the world, according to the newspaper.
