Iceland spurns Chinese investor in land deal

[hoticecup]

some say that the chinese government plans 200 years in the future. in 200 years or so the north pole will melt so a new shipping line will open between Asia and Europe, therefore the sea level will rise and it's estimated that the shore line in Iceland will be somewhere in that area of land, it would be nice to build a port there.. coincidence

[fuckwangdan]

fuck taiwan

[HardstyleICE]

Fucking VG, communism party that's ruining iceland.. God bless iceland

[PrettyBoyXV]

good for iceland. i wouldnt trust the chinese, either.

[xuxanamae]

good call on iceland! why does greedy china want to buy everything? not everything is for sale.

[ScilusVacilius]

@e1nn

Yeah, Iceland has a law against such deals. Part of a far-sighted preservation policy, if memory serves.

"Whawhahwa ;_; We dont get to buy, discrimination!!"

[shotsky94]

fucking racsts....

[noirbonaqa]

OK, let WWIII begin!

[rayleigh8]

well done icelander. Chinese, you want to buy land? go buy land in your own china, the west will not sell you land

[axs12345]

why would we sell chines peable land if chines will not sell icelanders or any other western country there land

[Sindrijo]

All I can say is Im glad that we didnt sell Icelandic soil to some foreigner.

Icelandic soil for Icelandic citizens only, in fact it should be that way in every country. Every country should take good care of its land and resources.

[birkejavived]

ahaha þetta er nú algjör snilld.

[conscarcdr]

Real estate business is blood money in China: local government can sell virtually any land with people already living on it, if the residents refuse to leave, they are forcibly removed or buried alive by bulldozers. here is one example watch?v=TqbslDvrVTo If you don't stop them, they have enough money to buy your country.

[Kberiotwhn]

China hasn't seemed to learn the global lesson in outsourcing it's resources.

[mistertakeda]

Good for Iceland. Place is like nowhere on earth. Don't need foreign venture capitalists crapping it up in the hopes they might toss you some scraps somewhere down the road.

[Mastermind12358]

stupid chinese..

[leifur1992]

@Mastermind12358 word

[IceBlueBeard]

The video and summary is bit misleading. The law in Iceland states that only EES citizens can buy land in Iceland, you can however apply for an exception. Nubo applied for an exception but was denied. That's it.

[IceGuyProd]

An Icelander can't buy land in China so from that aspect we aren't being unfair to the Chinese.

[chairde]

Welcome to the world. As an American I cannot buy land in the Bahamas, Cuba or Mexico just to mention a few. In some countries you must be a citizen of that country to buy land. Also try buying land in Saudi Arabia. It is silly and unproductive but that is the way it is for now. For that matter could I buy land in China?? Does anyone know? Could I buy land in Russia??

[ohemeffgeee]

@chairde Land as in undeveloped property... not purchasing a section of a nation and it's sovereignty. Can't believe people are incapable of telling the difference... It's like buying an undeveloped beach property in Mexico by Marriott to develop a hotel, nothing wrong with that?

[chairde]

@ohemeffgeee Sorry but as per Mexican Law Marriott or any other non Mexican company has to have a Mexican partner to buy land.

[qrsx66]

@chairde I'm sure you can't buy Chinese or Russian land. I don't see why China should be scandalized if the buying is blocked, it's a sane reaction from Iceland government, and Greece and Italy should do the same.

[what77777]

@qrsx66 lol the morons in iceland claimed that the guy would've used it as a foothold for China to set up military operations in the Arctic in the future. Do they know how god damn far Iceland is from China? If they had just said they don't want foreigners creeping on their land, then there'd be no hoopla, but no they made this about the Big Red China Scare.

[Elbottoo]

@what77777 Yes, they are retarded for using that as an excuse. They are obviously scared of yellow peril. They are moronic. Nobody needs Iceland to get a foothold in the artic. To even think in such terms shows just how delusional some people around the world are. They obviously are quite high of themselves.

[IceBlueBeard]

@Elbottoo Iceland is in a strategic position for shipping lanes if global warming continues and the north pole opens up more. The island also has a lot of geothermal and hydro power.

[Elbottoo]

@IceBlueBeard "if global warming continues and the north pole opens up" - you mean like 3000 years from now when the north pole opens up? When the north pole opens up, you can enter it from norway, russia, siberia, greenland and alaska. keep dreaming man.

What geothermal and hydro power made iceland so rich that they were able to avoid the credit crisis of 2008. The fantasy geothermal power?

[IceBlueBeard]

@Elbottoo "Canadian and American maritime experts say 2% of global shipping could be diverted to the Arctic by 2030, rising to 5% by 2050."

The reason Iceland didn't avoid the credit crisis is that the banks in Iceland where run by criminals who stole all the money from the banks from the inside and because of the inept Icelandic government the geothermal and hydro power is sold at practically only cost value.

[IceBlueBeard]

Check out guardian.co.uk/environment/201­1/jul/05/arctic-shipping-trade­-routes for the quote.

[Elbottoo]

@IceBlueBeard wrong son. Iceland is a nobody. 2% shipping diverted my ass. Keep on dreaming about how important you are. But even if it is true, whats that gotta do with private investment? Rofl you people are delusional.

[IceBlueBeard]

@Elbottoo Iceland may be a nobody to you but it is important to the those who live there, just like Britain is to you. There is no need be all high and mighty just because you think your country is somehow better than others. I was just stating what maritime experts believe. Secondly this isn't a private investment because the CCP is behind the deal.

[IceGuyProd]

@chairde No foreigners can buy land in China.

[what77777]

@chairde lol the morons in iceland claimed that the guy would've used it as a foothold for China to set up military operations in the Arctic in the future. Do they know how god damn far Iceland is from China and how unlikely that is logistically? If they had just said they don't want foreigners creeping on their land, then there'd be no hoopla, but no they made this about the Big Red China scare. That's what started the issue. You'd expect this paranoia from Americans but not scandinavians.

[mo1elftausend]

This is discrimination.

[Mizzuru]

@mo1elftausend how so?

[mo1elftausend]

@Mizzuru Discriminating against Chinese Investor / Money, just because they are Chinese (afraid Chinese government behind it). Who cares where the money comes from if the buisness plan is good. (and even if not the investor needs to be allowed to fail)

[Mizzuru]

@mo1elftausend but if it is actually government money being funneled in by a private compnay that that is highly highly suspect, if it is just private investment fine, but if it isn't then they have every right to refuse it, besides, maybe they dont want a huge resort in such a sceneic land such as Iceland. I like China, but I find the CCP highly questionable.

[mo1elftausend]

@Mizzuru If they refuse it, because they don't want a resort that is fine. But why would anyone refuse investment in your country I cannot understand. Think about all the future tax revenue and jobs being created etc.

[Mizzuru]

@mo1elftausend The man wanted to own effectivly 1% of the country, and he was a card carrying CCP member, thats a compartivly large amount of a country to be owned by anyone especially if its possible that the CHinese government had anything to do with the investment, it is completly understandable that any country would be wary of any other country owning a percentage of it, especially a country with such a questionable poitcial system and massivly questionable human rights abuses.

[mo1elftausend]

@Mizzuru Why should the Chinese government not be allowed to buy the entire country if they pay a good price and they are willing to sell ? I don't see what negative effects could be ?

[Mizzuru]

@mo1elftausend please tell me you are being sarcastic, I'm just going to assume you are or that is the most idiotic statement ever, because that isnt investment, thats imperialism.

[YourAverageJoey]

@mo1elftausend The guy had Communist Party connections and wanted to buy a literal 1% of the country.

[mo1elftausend]

@YourAverageJoey And still that would not mean that 1% of australia would now be owned by China. Just because you own a piece of land, the laws of the land still apply. So you could do nothing harmful with it. What are they afraid of that he would do ?

[YourAverageJoey]

@mo1elftausend Do you honestly think it's alright to make any foreign power the largest owner of land in your country? Especially one that would piss off your extremely belligerent neighbor?

[IceBlueBeard]

@mo1elftausend The buyer was a Chinese millionaire. You can't be a millionaire in China with out the approval of the CCP.

[IceBlueBeard]

@mo1elftausend Really? So are saying it is possible for Icelanders to buy Chinese land with no problems? No I didn't think so. Thats discrimination for you.

[what77777]

@IceBlueBeard That's not discrimination. They don't allow any foreign land ownership. Iceland specifically blocked a Chinese investor, noting he may have turned it into some kind of military base for China in the future in order to secure the Arctic. Idiots.

[IceBlueBeard]

@what77777 No Iceland doesn't allow any foreign land ownership except for EEA citizens, because Iceland has to follow EEA rules. I never heard about that military base idea, that is just stupid, of course no one is afraid about that. What Icelanders are concerned about are the water rights, geothermal rights and hydro rights associated with the land and also that this lands represents about 0.3% percent of the whole island, which is big considering most of the island is uninhabitable.

[what77777]

@IceBlueBeard Iceland does, but it depends on the "size" of which is not defined I believe. That's what everyone is reporting at least.

From the globe and mail: "Some officials in Reykjavik also suspect Mr. Huang wanted the land for more than a golf course. Canadian military planners agree." /facepalm

[Volf99]

good, keep chinese influence out of Iceland

[rwbean]

Huang ... someone who always has his cat with him (like Gaddafi and his nurse!) reminds me of Dr Claw from Inspector Gadget somehow!

[BlooDruNe92]

Person below me forever alone

[pinata132745]

1st one here