extract from Reuters: “China signed accords on energy cooperation and the Arctic in Iceland on Friday as Premier Wen Jiabao started a tour of northern Europe that will focus on Chinese investment in a continent eager for funds and to trade with the rising world power.
Centrepiece of the trip will be a visit to Germany, where Wen and Chancellor Angela Merkel will on Sunday and Monday burnish industrial ties that have done much for both economies. That the prime minister of the world’s most populous nation should stop first, however, on a remote island of just 320,000 has raised hopes for an injection of Chinese cash into an economy ravaged by the bursting of a financial bubble in 2008 – but also suspicion of Beijing’s hunger for natural resources. …
Over two days, Wen, who trained as a geologist, will see volcanic geysers and electricity plants where Iceland captures geothermal energy. Friday’s meetings between Wen and Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir resulted in agreements to cooperate in the Arctic region, in marine and polar science and in geothermal energy. Orka Energy Ltd – an Icelandic firm focused on producing geothermal energy – and China’s Sinopec Group also signed a deal to develop geothermal energy in China for heating houses and the production of electricity, though no figures were provided. …
But by starting with a full-scale visit to Iceland, Wen has fuelled European concern that China might be trying to exploit the country’s economic troubles to gain a strategic foothold in the North Atlantic and Arctic region. The area has big reserves of oil, gas, gold, diamonds, zinc and iron. And with global warming melting polar ice, it may offer world powers new shipping routes – and naval interests – for the trade between Asia, Europe and America’s east coast. “When it comes to the Arctic, we always have China on our mind,” said one European diplomat from the Nordic region, who spoke to Reuters this week on condition of anonymity.
But conspiracy theories over why such an Asian giant would be interested in such a small nation abound. “Given Chinas investment pattern around the globe, people have asked questions. Why are doing this? Is there some ulterior motive?” said Embla Eir Oddsdottir at the Stefansson Arctic Institute. “For next decade they are going to be battling some sort of suspicion as to their motive, because people have a tendency to link them to some type of regime.” …”
via UPDATE 3-Chinas Wen in Iceland, eyes on Arctic riches | Reuters.
Why the suspicion and conspiracy theory? China has been wooing all sorts of countries in the recent past – see posts:
https://chindia-alert.org/2012/04/16/us-alert-as-chinas-cash-buys-inroads-in-caribbean/
https://chindia-alert.org/2012/12/31/question-who-did-china-woo-in-2012/
https://chindia-alert.org/political-factors/geopolitics-chinese/
It is part of China’s geopolitical plan to be friends wioth everyone – without prejudice to religion, race, politics, etc!
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 