丹麦欲对北极提出主权要求

近日，一份遭泄露的丹麦官方文件显示，丹麦政府正计划对北极点及北极圈多处地区提出主权要求，丹麦科技部已经开始收集数据，并将于2014年前向联合国大陆架界限委员会提交申请。近年来，北极地区日益融化的冰川将会提供新的航运线路、渔场和油气开发机会。据悉，该地区未开发的油气藏量占全球的四分之一。俄罗斯、挪威、加拿大以及美国对北极部分地区也都有主权要求。丹麦政府若想成功申请到主权，就必须有证据证明北极与格陵兰岛在地理上是相互关联的，而格陵兰岛被划入丹麦领土已有600多年了。

Denmark plans to lay claim to the North Pole and other areas in the Arctic, where melting ice is creating new shipping routes, fishing grounds and drilling opportunities for oil and gas, according to a leaked government document.

The draft document titled "Strategy for the Arctic" said Denmark's Science Ministry has started collecting data to formally submit a claim for several areas to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf no later than 2014.

To be successful, the Danes will have to present evidence proving that the North Pole is geologically linked to Greenland - which has been part of Denmark for more than 600 years

Russia, Norway, Canada and the US have their own claims - sometimes competing - in a region believed to hold as much as 25 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas.

The Danish government confirmed the authenticity of the document, which was first obtained by Danish Radio and published online by newspaper Information.

Denmark has for years explored potential claims to areas off Greenland, a semiautonomous territory, but this is the first time the government explicitly states it will make a claim for the North Pole, said Martin Breum, a Danish journalist who has written a book about Denmark's interests in the Arctic.

Foreign Minister Lene Espersen said the strategy was still being reviewed and a final version was expected in June. However, she affirmed in a statement that Denmark expects to "be able to lay claim on an area which includes the seabed of the North Pole."

The race to secure subsurface rights to the Arctic seabed heated up in 2007 when Russia sent two small submarines to plant a tiny national flag under the North Pole. Russia argued that an underwater ridge connected the country directly to the North Pole, a claim disputed by other Arctic nations.

The 34-page Danish document said Denmark wants "to lay claim to the continental shelf in five areas around the Faeroe Islands and Greenland, including the North Pole itself." At least four of those areas are believed to hold oil or gas resources.

Exploiting such resources becomes easier as climate change shrinks Arctic sea ice coverage, which has reached record lows in the past decade.

The document also said Denmark's military will strengthen its focus on the Arctic but stressed that the Scandinavian nation will work for peaceful cooperation between Arctic states.

Last week the eight members of the Arctic Council - Russia, United States, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland - agreed to coordinate Arctic search-and-rescue missions.

The United States has said it wants the cooperation pact to be a template for agreement on more pressing national security issues.