Science reporter Holly Chik investigates Chinese-Thai collaboration in fundamental science and cutting-edge technology. As part of the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing’s influence on Bangkok spans everything from smart city AI to fusion energy. In the fourth part of the series, she examines cooperation in Antarctic research.
When Thai marine biologist Suchana Chavanich went to Antarctica with a Chinese team in 2013, she became the first diver on a Chinese mission there in 30 years.
Diving in cold waters in a place as remote as China’s Great Wall Station is dangerous, but observing how the animals there behaved underwater could help humanity prepare for the effects of climate change, Suchana, an associate professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, said.
“I dived in front of the station so that I could explore what was inside,” she said in an interview in Bangkok. “Since the Chinese team had never dived there before, they asked Korean and Chilean counterparts, whose stations were not too far away, to help me.
