Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.05.2012, Blaðsíða 23

What does China want with Iceland, anyway?
Friends With Benefits
in China and possibly to other areas;
research in geo-sciences; environment
protection of glacier [sic]; tourism; ed-
ucational and cultural exchanges. Bi-
lateral cooperation is on equality and
will be mutually beneficial.”
Interestingly, the Office of the Prime
Minister responded in almost the same
tone and fashion, saying, “Iceland and
China have enjoyed diplomatic rela-
tions for 40 years, with enhanced coop-
eration over the past few years. China
is a growing and upcoming economy,
and an important trade partner to Ice-
land, and free trade negotiations have
been in progress for the past few years.
Several of the largest companies in Ice-
land have operations in China. Iceland
and China have also increased their
cooperation in other areas, such as re-
search, renewable energy and geother-
mal cooperation in China.”
SO WHAT DO THEy WANT?
Speaking in generalities about growing
partnerships is all well and good, but
what, exactly, did China and Iceland
agree to during Wen Jiatbao’s visit?
The “willingness agreements,”
signed by Chinese and Icelandic offi-
cials at the Culture House, outline six
points: the first two points state that
the two countries will work more close-
ly together on Arctic issues, primarily
in the areas of scientific research and
transportation. No surprises here. The
third point welcomes Iceland to share
its geothermal energy technology with
China, but also that the two countries
could work together to build up geo-
thermal energy in developing coun-
tries; in particular, in east Africa.
The last three points, however, shift
the focus more towards private indus-
try. The company Chinese company
BlueStar—which in 2011 bought Elkem
in Norway, which owns an iron blend-
ing factory in Grundartangi—wants to
build a silicon metals factory in Iceland.
The partially government-funded com-
pany Promote Iceland and the China
Development Bank intend to work more
closely together to make it easier for
their respective countrymen to invest
in each other’s nations. Finally, Orka
Energy Holding ehf.—an Icelandic geo-
thermal energy company that, accord-
ing to its website, has “the major com-
ponents” of its operations in Asia—and
China Petrochemical Corporation want
to build upon the geothermal energy
work they started in China in 2006, and
to expand operations there.
While the initial points on coopera-
tion in the Arctic regarding “transpor-
tation” and “research” might have been
kept purposefully vague, it is obvious
why the region is important to China.
BUSINESS FIRST,
HUMAN RIGHTS SECOND
However rosy the relationship between
China and Iceland may be, it’s only as
strong as the people who cast their
votes for those who will run the country
allow it to be. And it is clear that the
aforementioned human rights concerns
do matter to Icelanders. While Falun
Gong members were able to publicly
protest Wen Jiabao’s visit without inci-
dent, they penned an open letter, pub-
lished on Vísir.is, calling on the Icelan-
dic government to uphold human rights
while members of their organisation in
China continue to be persecuted.
The Prime Minister’s office con-
firmed that Jóhanna did discuss hu-
man rights with Wen Jiabao, telling The
Grapevine that “particular contents of
discussions with foreign guests are not
disclosed to a larger extent than was
stated in the press release of the PM's
Office on Friday 20 April.” The only
mention of a human rights discussion
in that particular press release states
“the Prime Minister also discussed hu-
man rights issues, civil rights and inter-
national commitments. The Prime Min-
ister and Premier agreed to enhance
relations and cooperation on gender
equality in the near future.”
The local press also reported that
journalists who tagged along for Wen
Jiabao’s tour of the country were not
permitted to ask questions. When
Bloomberg reporter Ómar R. Valdimars-
son attempted to ask Wen Jiabao a
question about Bo Xilai, a high-ranking
official in China who was recently fired
from his party, DV reported that one of
Wen Jiabao bodyguards attempted to
block Ómar from asking his question.
When Ómar asked it anyway, the body-
guard pushed him. Ómar loudly ex-
claimed, "Don't touch me!" three times,
and the bodyguard then backed off.
When asked about this appar-
ent silencing of journalists, the Prime
Minister’s Office responded, “The
programme of the visit did not include
statements to the press or a press con-
ference. The Prime Minister's Office did
not prevent anyone from asking ques-
tions but at the same time, a foreign
guest is not obliged to answer ques-
tions put to him, when that is not part of
the programme that has been decided.
The Prime Minister of Iceland gave in-
terviews to the press, during and after
the visit to local press.”
The Political Office of the Chinese
embassy also responded to the matter
of journalists, albeit more cryptically,
saying, “Prior to the meeting between
the two Prime Ministers, as a normal
international practice, the media is
given a few minutes photo opportunity.
The Icelandic media, like their Chinese
counterparts, and everyone was on
equal footing. The Icelandic media act-
ed professionally.”
A MATTER OF CONSCIENCE
Of course, as cynical as it may sound, it
is a fact of life that democratic nations
can and will do business with nations
with very different ideas about human
rights. It has been rightfully argued
that it is nearly impossible to avoid “do-
ing business” with China—so much of
what we buy comes from China, after
all. However, Iceland—like other Arctic
countries—is now in the unique position
of having something China wants, and
being able to provide it, or deny it. The
Icelandic government could bargain for
sweeter business deals, which might be
what it’s doing. Or, as so many Icelandic
voters appear to want, it could bargain
for improvements in human rights in
China. Or it could do both. Whichever
way Iceland chooses to go, its relation-
ship with China is arguably just as im-
portant for China as it is for Iceland.
“China also needs Iceland as a
strategic partner in the Arctic region
when the Trans-Arctic shipping route
becomes an option in transportation
and for future utilisation of natural
resources in the Arctic. In that field,
the benefits should be for both
parties.”
SO WHAT DID ICELAND SIGN
ONTO WITH CHINA?
While no legal binding agreements
were made, the Chinese and Icelandic
officials signed six “willingness agree-
ments” expressing a willingness to
move forward with certain projects.
The agreements that Iceland and China
signed are:
1. “Framework agreement between Chi-
na and Iceland on Arctic cooperation.”
This is an agreement that Minister of
Foreign Affairs Össur Skarphéðinsson
has been working on since 2010. The
wording of the agreement is vague,
but it says that the agreement lays the
foundation for future agreements re-
garding cooperation in the Arctic in the
area of scientific research.
2. The Minister of Foreign Affairs also
signed an agreement with China’s
Minister of Water Resources, which is
similar to the first agreement, in terms
of Icelandic and Chinese scientists fo-
cusing on the Arctic, but places special
emphasis on the Arctic Ocean. Again,
the wording of the agreement is a bit
fuzzy; it doesn’t say if they mean re-
search on fish stocks or melting pack
ice or something else altogether.
3. “Agreement of geothermal coopera-
tion in developing countries.” This was
signed by the Foreign Minister and
China’s Minister of Land and Resourc-
es. This agreement states that Iceland
and China will work together on the re-
search and development of geothermal
energy, for use in developing countries.
One example specifically used is China
working with Iceland and the World
Bank to develop geothermal energy in
east Africa.
4. “Joint willingness agreement be-
tween the Icelandic government and
BlueStar.” This was signed by the Minis-
ter of Industry and the director of Blue-
Star, an international metals company.
This agreement centres on the building
of a silicone metals factory in Iceland,
which could produce 65,000 tonnes of
material each year for the manufactur-
ing of solar panels.
5. “Agreement between Invest Iceland
and the China Development Bank on
advising investors.” In general terms,
this agreement seeks to make it easier
for Icelandic and Chinese investors to
invest in each others’ countries. Invest
Iceland is a “public-private” company,
partly owned by the Icelandic govern-
ment, so you could say this agreement
blends public and private interests.
6. Speaking of private interests, this
agreement is between two private
companies: Orka Energy Holding ehf.,
and the China Petrochemical Corpo-
ration (Sinopec Group). This one’s a
little complicated. You see, Sinopec
has a subsidiary called Sinopec Star
Petroleum Company Limited, which
owns a 51% share of Shaanxi Green En-
ergy Geothermal Development Co. Ltd.
(SGE). Orka Energy—which acquired
Geysir Green Energy and Reykjavík
Energy Invest last year—owns the other
49%. Together, these two companies
will expand the operations of SGE, to
expand geothermal heating for homes
and offices from 6 million square me-
tres of building space to 30 million by
2015, and 100 million by 2020.