"China in the Arctic; and the Opportunities and Challenges for Chinese-Finnish Arctic Co-operation" published February 12, 2019 presents China's efforts of demonstrating their growing knowledge, and commitment to, the Arctic region.
As an non-Arctic state, some actors and experts are concerned with China's aims and actions in the Arctic region while others are hopeful for Chinese institutions, investors and companies to contribute to development and knowledge-building as China seeks to become an Arctic player and partner.
While China's power status is rising, Beijing's Arctic presence in policy areas is likely to rise as well. Chinese Arctic interests will mostly likely continue to stay in science diplomacy but economic concerns are increasing with the ongoing need for energy, raw materials and new shipping lanes.
China and Finland's co-operation is growing including Arctic questions with potential for co-operation enhancement in several Arctic sectors. As of now, there are only a few instances of investments while there various concerns and risks related to co-operating with Chinese partners. These concerns relate to the Chinese economic and political influence, the environmental and social performance of Chinese economic actors, as well as the reliability of Chinese investors.
The study has been carried out as a part of the part of the Prime Minister’s Office’s 2016 Government's analysis, assessment and research activities.
The full report is available here.