6. Belt, Road, and Circle: The Arctic and Northern Europe in China’s Belt and Road Initiative

In Chap. 6, Sørensen offers a much-needed analysis of how the development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) links to China’s growing interests and ambitions in the Arctic, showing how China is using the BRI to further intensify and strengthen relations with Nordic countries in the Arctic. Conducting a comparative analysis, the chapter further draws attention to how geography and certain domestic circumstances and considerations play into how the Nordic countries see and engage with the BRI as it broadens to the Arctic and Northern Europe. Sørensen concludes with a critical discussion of why the Nordic countries are not cooperating to a higher degree, despite growing Chinese efforts in recent years to introduce a 5 + 1 mechanism for high-level Nordic–China interactions.