China’s Role in the Arctic
Thursday Feb 26, 2026
12:00 – 1:00 pm (Eastern)
Online via Zoom
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This event is co-sponsored by the APEC Study Center at Columbia University.
About the event
The Trump administration’s efforts to secure more control over Greenland have put China’s activities in the Arctic under a spotlight. Since 2018 when China declared itself to be a “near-Arctic state” with strategic interests in the region, it has expanded its Arctic research activities, acquired more icebreaking vessels, conducted Arctic patrols with Russia, and sent a ship from Asia to Europe through the Arctic Ocean along Russia’s northern coast – a route China has dubbed the “Polar Silk Road.” But is any of this activity contrary to international law or dangerous to the US? Professor Yuanyuan (Kate) Ren at the University of Dayton School of Law, an international law scholar who formerly worked at the Polar Research Institute of China, will explain how China interprets international law at the polar regions and what is publicly known about its Arctic goals.
About the speaker
Yuanyuan (Kate) Ren is an assistant professor at the University of Dayton School of Law. Her teaching and research focus on public international law and international business transactions, as well as torts. She has published book chapters and journal articles about China’s role in the polar regions; international law and governance challenges in the polar regions including the law of the sea and environmental law; and most recently, origin-marking requirements in WTO jurisprudence. Before her appointment at Dayton, she was an adjunct professor at Elon University School of Law and a Hauser postdoctoral Global Fellow at New York University School of Law. Earlier in her career, she was a Fox International Fellow at the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University (2010-2011) and worked as an assistant research professor and International Programs Coordinator at the Polar Research Institute of China (PRIC) in Shanghai (2012-2013). She also serves as an associate fellow with the University of the Arctic (UArctic) Chair of Arctic Legal Research and Education. Professor Ren holds an SJD from the University of Wisconsin and a PhD in law from Fudan University Law School.