China mulls joining scheme to lay telecom cable across Arctic Circle

Talks with Finland to build a telecommunications cable on the polar seabed could give China a new entry point to shaping the development of the warming Arctic.

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and state-owned China Telecom are among those taking part in discussions about building a 10,500km fibre-optic link across the Arctic Circle. The proposal, which also involves Finland, Japan, Russia and Norway, aims to create the fastest data connection between Europe and China as soon as 2020.

Besides speeding China’s communication with European financial centres and data hubs, the project is among Beijing’s most ambitious forays into the hotly contested region. China included the Arctic in President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road trade-and-infrastructure initiative in June and is drafting a broad strategy on its plans for the area.

The cable also highlights China’s growing ties with Finland after Xi in April became the first Chinese president to visit the country since 1995. A freight railway between the Finnish city of Kouvola and China’s Xian opened last month and Finnair is seeking to become a regional hub for flights between the two continents.

“The tide has changed in Finland-China economic ties in these two years or so,” said Jari Sinkari, the Finnish consul-general to Hong Kong and Macau. “It used to be Finland investing more in the Chinese market, but now China’s become the more active one in the partnership.”

Cinia Group, a Finnish government-owned information and communications technology company, has a prominent role in the so-called Northeast Passage cable project and is looking for partners, said Marjukka Vihavainen-Pitkanen, a senior adviser with the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications. China Telecom officials expressed interest in getting involved at a September meeting in Helsinki, she said.