http://edition.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/08/29/iceland.china.real.estate.ft/index.html
(FT) -- A Chinese tycoon plans to buy a vast tract of Icelandic land for a $100m tourism project which critics fear could give Beijing a strategic foothold in the North Atlantic.
Huang Nubo, a real estate investor and former Chinese government official, has struck a provisional deal to acquire 300 square kilometres of wilderness in north-east Iceland
Opponents have questioned why such a large amount of land -- equal to about 0.3 per cent of Iceland's total area -- is needed to build a hotel. They warned that the project could provide cover for China's geopolitical interests in the Atlantic island nation and Nato member.
Mr Huang, who previously worked at China's Central Propaganda Department and the Ministry of Construction, has sought to reassure Icelanders over his intentions by pledging to renounce all rights to water running through the land.
(FT) -- A Chinese tycoon plans to buy a vast tract of Icelandic land for a $100m tourism project which critics fear could give Beijing a strategic foothold in the North Atlantic.
Huang Nubo, a real estate investor and former Chinese government official, has struck a provisional deal to acquire 300 square kilometres of wilderness in north-east Iceland
Opponents have questioned why such a large amount of land -- equal to about 0.3 per cent of Iceland's total area -- is needed to build a hotel. They warned that the project could provide cover for China's geopolitical interests in the Atlantic island nation and Nato member.
Mr Huang, who previously worked at China's Central Propaganda Department and the Ministry of Construction, has sought to reassure Icelanders over his intentions by pledging to renounce all rights to water running through the land.