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Abstract

China is expanding its Arctic presence by developing infrastructure in the global commons intersecting with the region. Operations in outer space, the deep sea, and cyberspace minimise the need for terrestrial footholds and generate data, a virtual resource. To analyse the epistemic and geopolitical consequences of developing the Arctic commons as a vertically and digitally integrated volume, we examine a critical form of Chinese ‘remote infrastructure’: optical, synthetic aperture radar, and navigation satellites.