Russia and China have both ramped up their presence in Antartica in order to increase their influence in the last remaining unclaimed part of the world. Russia are building off of existing Soviet bases in Antarctica and expanding its development of a global petitioning to rival American GPS. Businessinsider.com.au reports: Moscow has so far constructed a minimum of three satellite monitoring systems in the Antarctic, the Times reports, with future bases planned. Russia also has more long-term ambitions in the region. Moscow, for example, was the lone country to oppose the creation of an Antarctic sanctuary that would have protected regions around the pole from fishing. It is in terms of fishing and future access to resources that Russia and China’s ambitions in the Antarctic converge. Although Beijing did not establish its first Antarctic research base until 1985, Chinese efforts to expand its influence across the continent have intensified and are now outpacing other nations’ plans. As this map from 2013 shows, at the time China only had three bases in Antarctica. Now, China’s plans to open a fifth base in Antarctica are proceeding on schedule, after Beijing opened its fourth base last year. The bases, unlike Russia’s holdovers from [...]