The Arctic has become a battleground for territory, trade and power, and China is staking its claim.

Live from the UK, this is the Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service.

I'm Leanna Byrne. Good morning.

So China, it's definitely not the first country you would think of when it comes to the Arctic,

but it's staking a claim, calling itself a near-Arctic state.

With a research station on Norway's Svalbard Archipelago, about 500 miles from the North Pole,

China's presence there is growing, just as global tensions rise.

The BBC's Katia Adler was on the ground for Norway Day this weekend and has this report.

Norway Day on weekend and has this report. Norway Day on Svalbard is quite something to behold.

What does it mean to you, Norway Day?

Today is we celebrate the kids.

It's about the future that they are and what they can do better than the rest of us.

But the future looks challenging.

These are times of rising tensions between global powers

and you feel those tensions spilling over into the Arctic.

Svalbard is a bit of a hotspot microcosm in all this.

This archipelago is Norwegian,

but it's governed by a treaty allowing people from all the countries that have assigned it to work visa-free,

mainly in mines and scientific research.

Harmonious, in theory.

But since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there's been a noticeable flexing of nationalist muscles.

The mayor in Longyebin is Terrier-Awnovic.

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