Xi’s Arctic Tour

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s first face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump received blanket media coverage around the world. Far less attention went to the two stops that bookended Xi’s meeting with Trump: Finland and Alaska. Far from sunny Palm Beach, Florida, Xi’s tours of Finland and Alaska both represent China’s growing interest in the Arctic region.

Xi was in Finland from April 4 to 6, where he held meetings with his Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinisto, Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila, and Speaker of the Finnish Parliament Maria Lohela. It was Xi’s first trip to Finland; Niinisto had previously visited China in 2013, when China and Finland upgraded their relationship to a “future-oriented new-type cooperative partnership.”

That cooperation, like most of China’s partnerships in Europe is mostly based on economics. China is Finland’s largest trading partner, and the two sides expressed interest in deepening their cooperation in “trade and investment, innovation, environmental protection and urbanization” during Xi’s visit. Winter sports also earned a mention; that’s a particular point of emphasis for China as Beijing prepares to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.

There are a number of reasons for Xi to pay his first state visit to Finland now. For one thing, China is currently courting EU support for granting Beijing market economy status, something the European bloc seems disinclined to do. As one of the earliest European states to grant China diplomatic recognition, Beijing may be hoping to win Finland to its side in that debate.

Meanwhile, as with all of Xi’s overseas trips nowadays, the “Belt and Road” initiative (also known as “One Belt, One Road” or OBOR) was a topic of discussion. China envisions OBOR as an interlinking web of infrastructure – pipelines, electricity projects, ports, railways, and roads – and trade routes spanning from its east coast through western Europe. Finland is apparently interested in the Belt and Road. A joint declaration after the meeting stated that Helsinki supports “China and EU in promoting connectivity between Asia and Europe, building a grand Asia-Europe market, and boosting the flow of people, business, capital, technology, as well as information and communication between the two continents.”

Beyond these general interests, Finland currently holds a unique position in Arctic affairs. Helsinki is currently the chair of the Nordic Council, all of whose members are Arctic states. China is hoping to repair ties with the bloc now that Beijing has resolved a long-standing spat with Council member Norway over a Chinese dissident winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. Perhaps more importantly, Finland is set to assume the rotating chairmanship of the Arctic Council from the United States in May 2017; Helsinki will hold the position for two years. According to Finland’s Foreign Ministry, “The Finnish Chairmanship will focus on the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change and the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs).”

China, which only has observer status on the Arctic Council, will want to make sure it keeps good ties with Finland so that its voice can be heard on Arctic matters. As Xi put it, China will "seize the opportunity of Finland's rotating chairmanship of the Arctic Council to enhance cooperation in Arctic affairs and promote environmental protection and sustainable development of the Arctic."

From Finland, Xi headed to the United States for his meeting with Trump in Florida. But he would make a detour the Arctic before heading back to Beijing, as the Chinese delegation made a previously unannounced refueling stop in Anchorage, Alaska on April 7 (unannounced to the public that is; Alaskan officials later said they had been aware of the Chinese president’s visit for over a month). Xi met with Alaskan Governor Bill Walker during the brief stop-over.

Walker was particularly interested in selling Xi on the potential for increased energy exports to China. “We are somewhat a good fit with China on natural resources,” the governor explained at a press conference the day after his meeting with Xi. “We have way more energy than people, and they have way more people than they have energy.”

Walker placed particular emphasis on a planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) pipeline linking Alaska’s North Slope gas fields with export terminals at the port city of Nikiski. The project’s primary market would be East Asia, but the outreach to China specifically was something new – the Alaskan government has previously tried to woo U.S. allies Japan and South Korea. According to Walker, Trump also brought up the Alaskan LNG project during his summit with Xi.

Through the new pipeline, “Alaska can provide China with a new and reliable source of LNG, a strategic investment in the U.S. of A, [and] an opportunity to participate in a regionally strategic infrastructure project,” Walker said.

Xi likewise pegged natural resources – minerals, oil, and gas – as areas of interest for China. According to Walker, the Chinese president also brought up the issue of climate change, an area the Trump administration has shown little interest in addressing.

Xi’s time in Finland and Alaska highlighted some common strands of China’s general Arctic strategy. China’s approach to the region has never been officially codified in a policy document, but Beijing has demonstrated an interest in engaging with the region, with a particular eye toward securing natural resources and helping build infrastructure that can take advantage of new possibilities for shipping routes as northern ice melts.

However, beyond these material interests, to some extent China is seeking a voice on Arctic affairs simply for the sake of national prestige. There’s a general sense in Beijing that, even though China isn’t an Arctic state, as a “great power” it should have some say in the region’s future. That is the primary motive behind China’s ramped up efforts in scientific exploration in the region (as well as in Antarctica), which places a particular emphasis on mitigating the impact of climate change.

With the United States no longer interested in global efforts to fight climate change, China senses an expanded opportunity for leadership in this realm, which may explain Xi’s emphasis on the subject during his stops in Finland and Alaska.