Arctic Science and Technology Advice with Ministries

The article analyzes the role of China in the most important areas of international scientific cooperation in the Arctic, in which non-Arctic players are involved along with the Arctic countries. The legal basis for scientific cooperation in the Arctic is the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the other is the Arctic Council. In 2013, China became the official observer state of the Arctic Council, thus taking an important step towards participating in Arctic international cooperation. Despite the fact that China is a non-Arctic country, factors such as climate change in the Arctic, the prospects for the development of the region’s resources and the Arctic Channel contribute to China’s interest in the Arctic and its policy towards the region. Taking into account the interests of China in the Arctic, as well as the legal framework and responsibility in the Arctic, under the existing mechanisms of international cooperation in the Arctic, China is involved in a number of Arctic international scientific research, mainly in the field of natural sciences. At the same time, China introduced its new platform for international cooperation in the Arctic – the Polar Silk Road, which is making some progress in international scientific cooperation.

The purpose of our research was to study the transformation of international Eurasian scientific and technical interaction within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (hereinafter—SCO). The methodological basis of the study is formed by comparative legal and formal-legal methods. The method of comparative legal analysis is aimed at comparing the legal regulation of scientific and technical cooperation in the SCO member states. The method of formal and legal analysis was used to interpret legal acts of the SCO member-states aimed at developing legal and institutional basis for mutually beneficial cooperation in science and technology. The relevance of the study is predetermined by the growing influence of the development of science and technology within the framework of interstate organizations. The novelty of the work is due to the small degree of study of the problem of international Eurasian scientific and technical cooperation. The study analyzed ways to intensify international scientific and technical cooperation within the SCO, including the establishment of commissions or councils on scientific and technical cooperation, development of model legal acts aimed at creating a legal framework for the development of international relations in the field of science, the formation of special funds to finance research, as well as the adoption of a new agreement on scientific and technical cooperation between the SCO member-states. As a result of the research, the authors conclude that in order to develop international Eurasian scientific and technical cooperation, a number of legal, institutional and organizational and financial measures are required.

This is a curious book—part oral history of scientists engaged in international scientific cooperation, part commentary on the differences between Soviet-style science and U.S. scientific research, part history and analysis of U.S./USSR scientific cooperation, and part observation of the impact of scientific cooperation on foreign affairs after the fall of the Soviet Union. Sher, who was engaged for many years in the management of exchange programs between the United States and the Soviet Union and later Russia, speaks with knowledge and experience of the many programs begun in the dying days of the Soviet Union and continued thereafter. In particular, he chronicles the efforts to save what was left of the Russian scientific establishment after 1991 and restore it to some semblance of its previous status.Sher is a good writer; many of his examples and vignettes are engaging and informative. But he is neither a historian nor a scientist, though he is knowledgeable about the methods of both history and science. Much of the book is devoted to a history, as he experienced it, of the science agreements between the United States and the Soviet Union shortly before 1991, and then a detailed history of the relations after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Because of his focus on the fall of the Soviet Union and its aftermath, he has little to say about the years immediately after World War II, a period with its own revealing lessons of scientific cooperation with the Soviet Union. The centerpiece of the book, however, is an annotated history of experience in the programs of cooperation with the “new” Russia, presented in the words of the participants along with commentary interpolated by Sher. Problems, successes, scientific accomplishments, foreign-policy effects, human impacts, and bureaucratic difficulties are described, usually in the words of those engaged in the programs, occasionally by foreign-policy officials.The book does not fit into any specific realm of analysis—neither the history of science, international affairs, nor bureaucratic politics. Rather, it is a personal memoir analyzing Sher’s experiences in a little-studied area of international scientific cooperation. There have been other more typical disciplinary analyses of international scientific cooperation from the perspective of international affairs, as well as of the Russian state's influence on international policy after the Soviet Union's demise, the relevance of scientific cooperation to strategic issues, or even the relationship of research to scientific advance. Sher offers suggestions about how international cooperation affects these areas and makes several points about their relevance to foreign policy, though they tend to be anecdotal and sometimes based on personal reflections about prominent officials (Henry Kissinger takes his lumps) or about the Department of State in general. The occasional digressions of that kind, even when deserved, do not point to an underlying disciplinary analysis.Notwithstanding the personal nature of the history presented, the material does make contributions to specific disciplinary areas. Many of the comments about the differences between the structure and assumptions of the Russian/Soviet style of scientific research and that of the West, particularly the United States, are instructive and useful inputs to the history of science. The interesting and intriguing views that Sher is able to obtain from significant actors in cooperative programs often help to illustrate many of the problems and successes encountered in the cooperative research programs. They provide useful cautions about issues that can arise in cooperative efforts across nations and cultures. This book is largely a personal memoir, interesting but not a discipline-based or interdisciplinary analysis.

The importance of cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union is described in the article. The priority directions of research and innovation activity of the EU countries in the field of energy are considered. The key strategic directions of the state energy policy of Ukraine are described, taking into account the country’s European integration course. The state and main problems of the development of the energy sector are analyzed. The trends of energy generation from renewable sources and possibilities of development of this sphere in Ukraine are determined. The necessity of the country’s participation in international scientific and technical cooperation in the energy sector, primarily with the EU are substantiated. Ukraine's declared pro-European orientation requires an appropriate activity strategy, which involves taking into account European standards of production and economic development. Thus, the signing of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU opens up significant prospects for international scientific and technical cooperation of Ukrainian industrial enterprises, in particular energy enterprises, which are determined by greater involvement in innovative and technological projects of the EU, expanding access to capacious European sales markets, using Ukraine's opportunities for attraction of foreign investments and technology transfer, as well as participation in various EU development programs. At the same time, this requires not only the establishment of new priorities for the development of the energy sector, but also their achievement in the medium and long term. The process of international scientific and technical cooperation in the European Union plays a key role in the development of the economy, since the further strengthening of the EU's position on the world stage depends on the effectiveness of the involvement in the process of solving the problems of scientific and technical development of the potentials not only of the Commonwealth of Nations, but also of the entire European region. For this purpose, the European Commission has developed a plan for the creation of the "European Scientific Space", a special place in which cooperation with developing countries and countries with transition economies is given.

The purpose of the article is to comprehensively investigate the forms and directions of international activity of Ukrainian historians of interwar Poland based on the analysis of various historiographical literature. The research methodology relies on the use of an interdisciplinary approach. Based on the principles of objectivity and historicism, the research has d the structural-functional systematic analysis of historiographical facts and the comparative-historical method. The article has used the heuristic possibilities of periodisation, classification and typology methods. The scientific novelty of the article consists in an attempt to comprehensively reconstruct the participation of Ukrainian historians of interwar Poland in international scientific cooperation. Conclusions. Despite the generally repressive cultural policies of the Polish government, Ukrainian historians in the Second Polish Republic generally adapted well to the difficult political and financial circumstances. Giving a proper response to numerous socio-political and cultural challenges, they managed to preserve the traditions formed at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Mainly traditions of international scientific cooperation and, despite constant financial problems, Ukrainian free socio-humanitarianism in foreign forums. In terms of institutions, international scientific cooperation was most actively established by the members of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and the Ukrainian Scientific Institute in Warsaw. This cultural activity gained special national importance in the 1930s of the 20th century, when Ukrainian socio-humanitarianism was subjected to devastating repression under the Soviet occupation. In general, in the conditions of stateless existence at the time, the international scientific cooperation developed by Ukrainian historians in the Second Polish Republic was a kind of cultural diplomacy, realizing the important task of establishing the political subjectivity of Ukrainians.

The purpose of the article is to comprehensively investigate the forms and directions of international activity of Ukrainian historians of interwar Poland based on the analysis of various historiographical literature. The research methodology relies on the use of an interdisciplinary approach. Based on the principles of objectivity and historicism, the research has d the structural-functional systematic analysis of historiographical facts and the comparative-historical method. The article has used the heuristic possibilities of periodisation, classification and typology methods. The scientific novelty of the article consists in an attempt to comprehensively reconstruct the participation of Ukrainian historians of interwar Poland in international scientific cooperation. Conclusions. Despite the generally repressive cultural policies of the Polish government, Ukrainian historians in the Second Polish Republic generally adapted well to the difficult political and financial circumstances. Giving a proper response to numerous socio-political and cultural challenges, they managed to preserve the traditions formed at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Mainly traditions of international scientific cooperation and, despite constant financial problems, Ukrainian free socio-humanitarianism in foreign forums. In terms of institutions, international scientific cooperation was most actively established by the members of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and the Ukrainian Scientific Institute in Warsaw. This cultural activity gained special national importance in the 1930s of the 20th century, when Ukrainian socio-humanitarianism was subjected to devastating repression under the Soviet occupation. In general, in the conditions of stateless existence at the time, the international scientific cooperation developed by Ukrainian historians in the Second Polish Republic was a kind of cultural diplomacy, realizing the important task of establishing the political subjectivity of Ukrainians.

This article assesses and explains the emergence, forms and extent of the EU-US science and research relations. It does so through the lens of ‘soft power’ since international cooperation in science and research is increasingly seen as an instrument of ‘soft power’ and a mechanism for improving international relations more generally. Drawing on the concept of ‘actorness’ I argue that the forms of engagement with the US are limited to a ‘laissez faire’ approach combined with elements of ‘science diplomacy’. However, there is no evidence that the EU uses science and research actively as a ‘soft power’ tool by trying to shape the behaviour of actors in order to push for policy outcomes the EU wants to see in other policy areas. As long as science and research policy in the EU is characterized by both a highly fragmented governance structure, and competitiveness and sovereignty concerns amongst Member States, the use of science and research as a ‘soft power’ tool in transatlantic relations remains uncharted territory.

Since its establishment in 2008, the Center for Science Diplomacy of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has advocated global scientific cooperation, stressed the importance of international scientific cooperation for improving international relations, actively promoted cross-regional international participation and regional cooperation, encouraged scientists to actively participate in policy formulation, and helped scientists play a better role in international cooperation. Based on the AAAS Annual Report from 2018 to 2022, important activities of the AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy in these years are reviewed. China's science and technology society should learn from the experience, promote global science and technology development, strengthen non-governmental science and technology exchanges, facilitate the practice of science diplomacy, spread the concept of China's science diplomacy, to make greater contribution to building a community with a shared future for humanity.

In today's world, a new round of technological and industrial revolutions have changed the economic structure and the pattern of international competition, and the formation of an international consensus has been promoted by scientific and technological means. In the process of reshaping the world's innovation landscape, China has become an important participant in global scientific and technological cooperation. This paper studies the data mining technology of data fusion information entropy and applies it to international scientific and technological cooperation to improve the level of cooperation in key areas where China has scientific and technological advantages or needs, which can enhance China's scientific, and technological discourse power and appeal. The main research content of this paper is the application research of data fusion combined with data mining technology in international scientific and technological cooperation. Taking the high-speed rail going global cooperation project as an example, the number of scientific and technical personnel in the cooperation project and the scope of professional disciplines designed by the project are analyzed. Among the number of scientific and technical personnel, the number of quality inspection technicians at home and abroad is the largest, accounting for 26.62% of the total team, indicating that the quality inspection technicians play an important role; in the distribution of disciplines, high-speed rail is involved. Design majors and engineering majors have the largest number of people, with 45 and 31 people respectively, indicating that in the future, similar cooperation projects should vigorously cultivate talents in engineering design technology.

This article is devoted to the study of theoretical and legal ideas about scientific sanctions and their political and legal nature, as well as an analysis of their impact on the publication activity of Russian scientists in foreign publications. In modern conditions of geopolitical and geo-economic turbulence, sanctions policy has a restraining effect on the development of scientific and technological potential. In this connection, the purpose of the study is to conceptually generalize the legal nature of scientific sanctions, identify existing barriers to international scientific and technical cooperation and find ways to overcome them. Sanctions policy is represented by various forms of generating difficulties in the sphere of participation of certain states in international network collaborations and established forms of cooperation. The legal basis of sanctions policy is the unilateral termination of contractual relations, which causes damage not only to the state against which sanctions are imposed, but also to the state that imposes sanctions. As a way to respond to sanctions challenges in the field of scientific and technological development, the dynamic development and implementation of innovative measures to support the national scientific and scientific-technical sector is proposed. As measures to increase the publication activity of Russian scientists in foreign publications, it is seen, first of all, the need to form and implement a special state policy as an integral part of the state scientific and technical policy in the field of international cooperation, since its development in these conditions cannot be limited only to the initiatives of scientific subjects and scientific and technical activities. In particular, it seems possible to change the geographical directions of international scientific and technical cooperation. This also involves encouraging friendly countries to harmonize foreign and domestic policies in the field of science, technology and innovation, as well as to harmonize national legislation and improve the functioning of organizational and legal mechanisms of cooperation.

The article considers a number of factors that influence the development of international scientific,scientific and technical cooperation between the SCO member states. Based on the analysis of the factorsidentified, certain barriers and risks are described that negatively affect the fruitful interaction in thescientific and technical field between the SCO countries and hinder their further progressive development.The author suggests certain measures to overcome obstacles for full-fledged international scientific andtechnical cooperation within the framework of the SCO.

China's Arctic Policy and Engagement:Review and Prospects Yitong Chen (bio) The Arctic is experiencing greatly accelerated change under the influence of climate change, economic globalization, and world power shifts. After China became an official observer state of the Arctic Council in 2013, its involvement in Arctic affairs has grown increasingly and intensively. It has been particularly prominent in three areas: science, economics, and governance. When China became an observer state, few people could have predicted the extent to which the world would change over the next decade. At that time, China did not stand out so much from the other four new observer countries in Asia (Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and India). Features such as Japan's close scientific cooperation with Arctic countries, South Korea's shipbuilding skills, and Singapore's important shipping position are why they have been granted observer status. A year later, however, a series of black swan events occurred, starting with the Crimean crisis in 2014. Like dominoes, the world landscape has since shifted dramatically. In 2016, Britain announced its departure from the European Union, while Donald Trump was elected president of the United States. After then U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo delivered an infamous speech at the ministerial meeting in 2019 warning China and Russia against "aggressive behavior," the Arctic Council closed for the first time without issuing a joint statement.1 In the speech, Pompeo used metaphorical and parallel questions to warn about China's presence in the Arctic, such as "Do we want the Arctic Ocean to transform into a new South China Sea, fraught with militarization and competing territorial claims?"2 However, this situation cannot happen because China has no legal right to claim any territorial sovereignty in the Arctic. Moreover, the only territorial dispute in the Arctic—over the small island Hans Island between Canada [End Page 29] and Denmark (via Greenland)—was peacefully settled with an agreement.3 When Covid-19 arrived, China was the first to respond with a strict epidemic prevention policy, but the country also entered a three-year self-imposed quarantine that slowed communication with the international community. At the same time, however, China has further deepened cooperation with Russia. In February 2022, after meeting at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin issued a joint statement that announced their intention to develop a "polycentric world order."4 The world now is a very different place than it was in 2013. China released its official white paper on Arctic policy in 2018.5 The white paper marked the culmination of a five-year period of gradual outreach and initial involvement in the Arctic governance arena as an Arctic Council observer state. Therefore, its release announced the beginning of the first year of the country's full participation in Arctic affairs in a mature and steady manner, guided by defined objectives and principles. This essay reviews China's involvement in Arctic affairs, using the white paper as a blueprint. Following a discussion of China's Arctic identity, the subsequent two sections concentrate on Arctic science and technology development and international cooperation in polar science. The essay then concludes by commenting on the implications of the current Russia-Ukraine conflict for Arctic governance and China's position and prospects in the region. China's Identity in the Arctic If there were keywords to describe China's identity in the Arctic, they would be "near-Arctic state" and "stakeholder." The logic behind the description of China as a near-Arctic state is that it is one of the continental states closest to the Arctic Circle. The proximity is not only geographic. Environmental changes in the Arctic have caused a series of direct impacts in China as well as indirect implications for its economic interests in agriculture, forestry, fishery, marine industry, and other sectors. [End Page 30] The white paper has to some extent responded to long-standing international speculation and questions about China's Arctic position and whether China will disrupt the established international order in the Arctic. However, China's self-perception as a near-Arctic state remains the most attacked concept in the paper. For example, one scholar...

The article emphasizes that the Arctic Council (AC) is a high level forum of cooperation, based on taking decisions by consensus that are carried out by member states on a voluntary basis and in accordance with their national interests. The AC does not meet the criteria of a classical international intergovernmental organization – IGO and may not be referred to as an international non-governmental organization – INGO due to its members. The high performance of the AC activity in the absence of a complex organizational structure, any executive body and a court is rooted in respect for national sovereignty of its member states. This informal international organization of new type became the core, around which a significant group of states, IGOs and INGOs, that received observer status at the AC, is created. Within the framework of its activity innovative tools of financing of ongoing programs have been developed. Participation of other member states of the AC in the anti-Russian sanctions does not become an obstacle for continuation of the close cooperation of all Arctic states in addressing the major problems of common concern in the Arctic. During the sanctions they established the Arctic economic council, signed the agreements on cooperation between coastal guards of all Arctic states, on scientific cooperation in the Arctic and on preventing unregulated fishing in the central part of the Arctic ocean. Negotiations on possible new agreements are going on between them. The model of informal international cooperation, demonstrated by the Arctic Council, is being successfully implemented also in the activities of the Nordic Council of Ministers, the Council of Barents/Euro-arctic Region, BRICS and other international organizations. This gave the authors the reason to conclude that this type of international organizations will be further developed in contemporary international relations.

The aspects of Russia's international scientific cooperation are analyzed in the article from viewpoint of quality and quantity. The upscale of disciplinary and geographical frameworks of international cooperation, development of new interaction instruments and forms are documented. However, at ministerial level, there is still no sufficiently distinct stance on national priorities in the scientific and innovative development, and thus on priorities in the international cooperation sphere. The latter cannot develop beyond a broader economic and political context, and its success depends on what domestic conditions are created to perform the exploratory activity.

India became an observer in Arctic Council in 2013 and has three research stations operational in the poles, including “Maitri” commissioned in 1989 and “Bharati” commissioned in 2012 at Antarctic and “Himadri” at Arctic. Though the Government of India has consistently been extending full support to the research endeavours yet the same is bogged by inadequate research output, lack of dedicated polar research vessel and other bureaucratic bottlenecks. A massive void in the Indian scientific pursuits is that India does not possess a polar research vessel or an icebreaker and has to rely on chartered vessels, seriously limiting its research timeframe as well as huge economic drain and thus compromising the scientific research. This cleft in the professed research narrative despite having a physical presence for over 3 decades in the polar regions and the proposal for acquisition of a polar research vessel having been approved in Jun 2010 yet the same is yet to be operationalised which is seriously impinging the scientific research as well as the professed commitment to Arctic research.Recently, India has released its draft Arctic Policy and had sought public comments thereon till 26 Jan 21 before its finalisation. India’s draft policy reiterates the oft stated goals of scientific research, connectivity, global governance and international cooperation, and human development with emphasis on Indian human resource pool. The inspiration of a delayed Indian policy on the High North appears to be the Chinese white paper of 2018. The scientific pursuits can propel the strategic engagement in the region to greater levels by extensive collaboration and cooperation with several other nations present there. Indian attempts so far have remained acutely short of the promise and India should build on its strengths for obtaining a leadership position in this strategically vital and economically lucrative region. Citation: Pareek N. Assessment on India’s involvement and capacity-building in Arctic Science. Adv Polar Sci, 2021, 32(1): 50-66, doi: 10.13679/j.advps.2020.0027