China's Xi seeks closer ties with Finland on green energy, peace plan for Ukraine
South China Morning Post
5 min read
China aims for closer cooperation with Finland on new energy sectors as well as finding a peaceful solution to the Ukraine crisis, President Xi Jinping told his Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb in Beijing on Tuesday.
According to China's state-owned broadcaster CCTV, Xi vowed closer links with Finland on "green transformation", information technology, the digital economy and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as new energy and "other emerging industries".
He also pledged to further expand "humanistic exchanges", including visa-free entry to China for Finnish nationals to promote "people-to-people" exchanges with the Nordic country.
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Presidents Xi Jinping and Alexander Stubb during a signing ceremony in Beijing on Tuesday. Stubb is the first Finnish leader to visit China in five years. Photo: EPA-EFE alt=Presidents Xi Jinping and Alexander Stubb during a signing ceremony in Beijing on Tuesday. Stubb is the first Finnish leader to visit China in five years. Photo: EPA-EFE>
Stubb, the first Finnish leader to visit China in five years, also highlighted the need for peace in Ukraine in his opening remarks, while accusing Russia of having "violated international law".
"Right now we are very much in a situation whereby Russian aggression has violated international law," Stubb was quoted as saying by Reuters. "I look forward to discussing peaceful solutions on that path as well."
Other areas of collaboration highlighted by Xi included climate change, biodiversity, global sustainable development, and AI intelligence governance.
As for Ukraine, Xi said China would "continue to play an active role in promoting a peaceful resolution of the crisis", maintaining Beijing's customary diplomatic response amid international pressure to leverage its close Moscow ties to help end the war.
Apart from meetings with top Chinese officials including Xi and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing, Stubb's four-day state visit will also take him to Shanghai where he will hold talks with the city's Communist Party chief, Chen Jining.
Stubb visited Beijing's Tsinghua University earlier on Tuesday and will also stop at Shanghai's Fudan University to boost bilateral collaboration in vocational education and scientific research.
Tuesday's agenda included a China-Finland business forum to boost bilateral economic ties. According to China's state news agency Xinhua, more than 100 Finnish and Chinese government and business circles attended the meeting led by Stubb and Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng.
Stubb will also attend a business summit with Finnish and Chinese companies in Shanghai.
His trip comes amid a fresh crisis since the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, with North Korea reportedly sending frontline troops to support the Russian military. China's close ties to both Moscow and Pyongyang are seen to make it a crucial leverage holder.
In an interview with Bloomberg in July, Stubb said Russia was "so dependent on China right now" that "one phone call from President Xi Jinping would solve this crisis".
"If he [Xi] were to say, 'Time to start negotiating peace', Russia would be forced to do that," Stubb said. "They would have no other choice."
Finland, a member of the European Union, shares a 1,340km (832-mile) border with Russia. In May 2022, three months after the invasion of Ukraine, Finland applied to become a Nato member and officially joined the bloc in April last year. Finland's inclusion more than doubled the Nato border with Russia, which has cited the bloc's eastward expansion as a reason for its military campaign in Ukraine.
Apart from the Ukraine crisis, EU-China relations are also facing challenges on the trade front, with Brussels calling for reducing dependence on the Chinese supply chain and accusing Beijing of flooding EU markets with cheaper new energy goods amid state-funded "overcapacity".
Like most EU members, Finland has posted a significant trade deficit in recent years with China, even though the world's second-largest economy remains its key Asian trading partner.
According to official Chinese data, bilateral trade last year amounted to US$8.2 billion, down 16.5 per cent from 2022.
Finland's trade deficit with China for the period was US$1.7 billion.
China's strong trade relations with Russia since the invasion of Ukraine have prompted Western leaders to question Beijing's proclaimed position of neutrality.
In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post in May, Finnish foreign trade and development minister Ville Tavio said EU-China relations would "get only better" despite Brussels' move to de-risk from Beijing. However, Chinese leaders would need to build trust with the bloc's business entities that had burned their fingers in Russia.
The de-risking discussion "comes from the companies themselves", he said. "When Finland has invested in Russia, and we have lost those investments, because of Russia's behaviour, I think it is natural that China would only gain to keep on building the trust."
Finland could also be a potential key player in China's ambitions of scientific exploration in the Arctic.
Meanwhile, Finland has sought to deepen polar cooperation with the United States. The US has expressed concerns about China's growing Arctic presence - especially in collaboration with Russia - and has been working to boost its own shipbuilding abilities.
Earlier this year, the US, Canada and Finland announced a joint project to develop polar vessels, including icebreakers.
Tavio also said that Finland would like to maintain cooperation with China under the Arctic Council framework, but its increasingly close relations with Russia was likely to become an obstacle.
