he came here and there he said, do we have a property many properties here. and he said, can i see it? yes, we can, but then we need the ball to see it from there. short jumping a bolt and we go for a nice trip in the shore down the see the property and then he said, is it possible to buy? yes, i said why not as to 5 minutes. he said, how much do you want? i said, i don't really know. it's a big properties. 1000000 square meter depends what you want to do. he said he like to build them. they sort fivestar shock, very high class. but you have to come to china and see what i'm doing that to understand what they mean. i said i would call don't what? uva and his 2 partners spent 2 weeks in china,

paid for by the mysterious billionaire introduced by an ambassador. a would be buyer enamored with the arctic. oh man newbies will not do much longer. do you? well, you blush. verbal. ha! i, i'll do in this government as well as on all this on the log to you via but to least day that promise remains unfulfilled. the reactions in the norwegian press were to negative, ola ye ever was branded a traitor by the regions largest daily newspaper. so the chinese billionaire withdrew and the contract was put on hold. many people, they talked really badly to me and said the, you know, i, i want to give the land to chinese and this is not good. i said, it's my right to do whatever i want. and i think of it in the and it will be

a nice investment and good for ling and good for, for norway. and there i cannot see the problem. but the same chinese billionaire investor who unleashed a storm of protest in norway met with the same reaction in iceland. it's a question of how you look at the superpower military, super or north america. just it a 1000000000 near coming from that state. of course you ask about these connections, course, hulu. in iceland, people asked this question even more as he is the chinese billionaire was especially land hungry. he secured 300 square kilometers in the north of the island to erect a tourist complex with the help of iceland business men. there were very strange

news that surfaced. lun for example, was about him wanting to import a lot of chinese, up to 3000 chinese people to, to live in groups other and even had surfaced in the canadian media that there would be some sort of a military base for china. it's all orthodontia and so i mean it's a shot. it's a media hype, rich feature, that kind of model. the chinese are coming, a chinese are coming at to still to scare people, eventually ice lens then interior minister. he thought differently than it's president stock. the project we must remember this, that people were crying for the investment, hoping for him as this explains where the municipalities in the north, where so equal to everett. but i wanted to be realistic, internationally, job, politically, things are happening. there. was this on the move onto course we have talked to to

analyze this, i'm trying to understand it. when it, when something like this happens, steel china tried once again to gain a foothold in the arctic via the small island country. beijing cleverly took advantage of the fact that iceland had been shaken by a devastating financial crisis. and in the icelandic president, it also found a loyal ally. ah, that has its roots in the subprime mortgage crisis which rocked the world economy in 2008 and crippled iceland. while iceland has felt left in the lurch by the west, president crimson was on the front lines trying to rescue his country face without shit, your issue direct possibility from your complete a lot,

no interests from the united states. i wrote a letter to the president of china, and thus you won't throw a very fascinating diplomatic amendment. aside from the fulton to watch karen, she short agreement between the iceland on china ad from all the measures which was important for us to remind brussels and the european powers that iceland had all their options. and them i know conditions put by the chinese that certainly put a very positive impression to the iceland government, including president crimson, who at the time was very interested in opening up iceland as a gateway, a portal to the arcade for an arctic state. so the timing was very good for all parties. their alliance was sealed when in 2013 iceland became the 1st year

a p and country to sign a free trade agreement with china. china was taking a new tack and the shoe alone was quite literally the icebreaker. the ship became a kind of floating embassy in 2012. it travelled from shanghai to rick havoc at the invitation of iceland. precedent who played the china card perfectly, seemingly a win win situation for both parties. upon arrival the crew of the shoe along was greeted by none less than the icelandic president himself whether the chinese rashaw threshold sure were long or salt or cold came to iceland than i agreed to receive a ship. it was the 1st time in european history, like china shy answers to explain in an open platform when the pressures robasho. those are all the european countries. why they out the shy of admission, told the author,

this kind of co operation designed to demonstrate china's good will developed well in iceland. thanks in part to a ground breaking arctic observatory where visitors can see the northern lights. yet several years after its construction doubts about the observatory, remain. ah, while iceland help was valuable here in key roo knock in swedish lapland. china took a giant leap towards becoming a legitimate player in the arctic. in 2013 china was awarded. observe a status in the arctic council dominated by the 8 arctic states. the council is an intake of a mental forum where issues such as scientific exploration, the environment, and shipping a disgust. turner became the accredited officer in the year 2000 certain. i'm do we, i to the,

the god support or quote number of countries including iceland, which will be quite appreciate. china has grown to the point where we simply can't close it out of the arctic. and that if china is ah denied some kind of role in the arctic council, it will simply treat that as a roadblock to be routed around. yet, china's candidacy was anything but self evident. the arctic states a touchy about others questioning their sovereignty in the region. and these states include major powers like russia and the usa who are always on their god. 2 2 that time, i notice the of the awesome says the say about the, what does china want the in the arctic and also the tiny is a commune. these kind of old men, china, throughout the mentality. why should we, i admit them when they are behaving badly in other parts of the world. please to be joined at the table by our senior arctic official,

julie gurley. as the united states senior arctic official, julie gurley served on the arctic council for 15 years. eventually, she agreed a proposal to allow china to join. it's better to have china under the tent with all of us than not. one of the big fears was that if china were not, were denied observer status, they would amps maybe seek revenge in some way as like a cause trouble for us in other forums like the un in 20136 mainly asian countries were admitted. as observers, we have agreed at babs in particular the, the observation where we welcome china india it to the japan republic of korea and singapore. as new observers states,

they accept the principles and they is either separated. although i have to cancel an obligation. china, i saw him and member of the un security council. they do have all the obligations on the responsibilities to contribute, all based them all resources and no ha, get there was no cris austin, china, it being present in the arctic council is important at which as it's observer status, enables it to build coalitions and influence for councils, decisions from 7 till now. usually china could only implement these decisions the 6 is coincided with the time that she gin thing became chinese president symbolically. it was a turning point for china on the international stage. ah, you know, with his speeches about climate change and his global vision for a new seal growed,

she gin ping has given new meaning to the developing china arctic. now there is more of a vision of china actually wanting to play a role in getting some national system of taking up. it's great power position. little level, interesting article has really gone way, way up as present she to power for level than most fundamental change has been the civilizational, they mention the idea that through the arctic china can contribute something that will help the rest of the world was i typically economically and in terms of energy and economic after this sub prime mortgage crisis, another event also played into china's hands when it came to establishing itself in the arctic rushes annexation of crimea. in 2014 m. e to us don't bye. was that i showed up or not? no, you're going currently,

begum. what was the only piece? give you the international community condemned hooton's actions sanctions were imposed. the idea was to isolate russia. doke remark before the crimea crisis, h. russia's focus was on active cooperation with the west lab. so china wasn't to the top of the building in a beautiful area. ah, but off to sanctions were imposed. vladimir putin rolled out the red carpet, fishy gin ping at the kremlin. the relationship between their 2 countries had been gradually warming up since the death of chinese communist leda chem and mount. and the more the west pointed its finger at beijing and moscow, the closer they grew. any reservations these great powers steel had about one

another were quickly set aside to further their own interests. ah, ah, in russia was looking for money and technology while china sought natural resources to sustain its growth. so they talked business, ah and yom all in the russian arctic would never be the same. again, it's natural gas supplies off a china a once in a lifetime, opportunity to establish a huge and lasting presence in the far north yamil l. n. g is a liquefied natural gas project, one of the world's largest, it's of prime importance for russia. so at moscow's request, beijing stepped in to save jamante. the jamar. ellen g

project is a cooperation that benefits both guy who's hm. by what it we certainly couldn't develop jamal without china. chinese money was urgently needed that yet. lee mallet amber willis. as kidding it. oh oh oh oh. in this remote corner of western siberia, the chinese can finally show their huge commitment to the polar region. oh, if there had been any lingering doubts about their arctic ambitions, yamma laid them to rest. the good chinese firms assumed control of 30 percent of

the project giving workers the chance to experience life in the far north on a grand scale. ah, russia should be pleased about yamaha, but it's self. image is an arctic superpower has been dealt a heavy blow. the russians generally are very and not very happy about, you know, being seen as a, as a, simply the ones who are, who develop, who, who delivers resources to, to support the, china's development us and to being a really great power that can jealous challenge to us friends, i know, should i me so today. hello. so we were too many experts ask themselves whether it could come to a confrontation, a conflict between china and russia. reservations towards china certainly do exist in russian society as many russian experts say this could lead to a one sided dependency on china. i think these laurie's and concerns are overblown or asia kaufman, a u d a diet coke wasn't which.