Greenland's courting of China for airport projects worries Denmark
Mar 22, 2018
COPENHAGEN/BEIJING (Reuters) - Greenland is courting Chinese investors and construction companies to help expand three airports, raising concern in the Danish government that Chinese involvement could upset its ally, the United States.
Chinese interest in Greenland, a self-ruling part of the Kingdom of Denmark, comes after Beijing in January laid out ambitions to form a “Polar Silk Road” by developing shipping lanes opened up by global warming and encouraging enterprises to build infrastructure in the Arctic.
Greenland, also eager to benefit from growing activity in the Arctic, plans to expand the airports in the capital Nuuk, the tourist hub in Ilulissat and at Qaqortoq in southern Greenland to allow direct flights from Europe and North America.
The island lacks simple infrastructure for its tiny population of only 56,000, has no roads between the country’s 17 towns and, for now, only one commercial international airport, at Kangerlussuaq, western Greenland.
During a visit headed by Greenland’s Premier Kim Kielsen to Beijing late last year, the delegation met representatives of engineering and construction company China Communications Construction Co (CCCC) and Beijing Construction Engineering Group (BCEG).
Now, Chinese construction companies have appeared on a list of 11 companies or consortia that have shown interest in the projects with an estimated cost of 3.6 billion Danish crowns ($595 million), according to Kalaallit Airports, a state-owned company set up to build, own and operate the airports.
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