February 6, 2018

With a population of 334,000 – just one sixty-fourth that of Beijing where its first embassy in Asia is located – Iceland has once again caught the attention of Chinese media outlets after the latter laid out its Arctic White Paper in January, with both sides agreeing to deepen bilateral cooperation on Arctic issues.

“We welcome the interest China is showing [to the Arctic] because we feel that the resources and intelligence China have will be helpful for us, which could also develop future cooperation possibilities for shipping, logistics,” Gunnar Snorri Gunnarsson, the Icelandic ambassador who just started his second tenure in China, told People’s Daily Online.

As the world’s northernmost capital and a founding member of the Arctic Council, Iceland’s geopolitical position and their sustainability are strongly favored by China’s new Arctic policy, which Gunnarsson believes will serve as an excellent basis for building better Sino-Icelandic Arctic cooperation.

Read more:

http://en.people.cn/n3/2018/0206/c90000-9424163.html