In May, Terje Jørgensen, port manager in Kirkenes, went to meet the China Ocean Shipping Company, better known as Cosco, at the company’s office in Helsinki. The meeting was agreed after a year and a half of communication between the parties. This emerges from e-mail dialogue to which news has gained access. The aim of the meeting was, among other things, to discuss the establishment of the Chinese shipping company in Kirkenes. Photo: news At the same time, Norwegian security services have warned against the Chinese shipping giant. They say cooperation with such an actor could be a threat to national security. Harbor manager Jørgensen works on assignment from the harbor board in Kirkenes. Chairman Terje Hansen (Frp) says he is aware of the warnings against Chinese actors, and is clear that areas in the port should not be sold. He still says that it is right to facilitate cooperation with them, such as letting them rent. – It is appropriate to challenge the Norwegian authorities. If a Chinese company comes to do business with us, we will drag it out completely, says Hansen. He is clear that the ambition is to bring about activity in the harbour. The alternative: – Then the Norwegian authorities must stop us, he says. Chinese Cosco is in dialogue with the Port of Kirkenes about establishing itself in the port. At the same time, Norwegian security authorities are warning against Chinese influence in the Arctic. Photo: Ingrid Hjellbakk Kvamstø Interest in the northern sea route In the spring, news reported that several large Chinese companies have shown interest in Kirkenes. The giant Cosco is one of these. This is one of the largest shipping companies in the world, under the direct control of the Chinese state. Since February 2023, news has documentation showing that the harbor master has been in dialogue with the shipping company. The dialogue has mainly been through two Chinese actors who are employed by a Norwegian company. But port manager Terje Jørgensen has also been in direct contact with top officials in the company. The parties have discussed and exchanged plans on how Kirkenes can become a central part of the northern sea route. This route passes through Russia and is much shorter than the current freight route via the Suez Canal. The northern sea route runs north of Russia and is up to 40 per cent shorter than the current freight route via the Suez Canal. In an e-mail to Cosco, port manager Jørgensen writes that the possibilities for transporting goods between Asia and Kirkenes provide a good basis for business that can be useful for both parties. He also emphasizes that the port of Kirkenes will support shipping between China and Kirkenes: Following the Helsinki meeting, Terje Jørgensen and the Chinese intermediaries have been in dialogue about how they can keep a low profile regarding a collaboration with Cosco. In the email, Jørgensen writes, among other things, that it would be politically very favorable to use the term “OCEAN ALLIANCE” even if the collaboration is only with Cosco: When news asks why Jørgensen wants to refer to the collaboration partner as Ocean Alliance, Jørgensen replies that the wording “perhaps not is lucky and probably should have been worded differently”. He emphasizes, however, that the port’s aim is to attract interest from all possible shipping companies and logistics organisations, but that the dialogue today is mainly aimed at Cosco. – This is partly because the shipping company probably has the best conditions for carrying out successful voyages through Russian waters – given the prevailing international conditions, he writes. The northern sea route is still little used, but the port manager has previously stated to news that he believes the use of the sea route will increase in the coming years due to climate change, unrest in the Suez Canal and that Kirkenes needs alternative sources of income after sanctions against Russia. Photo: news / Sebastian Faugstad Can conduct intelligence operations The shipping company Cosco has in recent years gained an increasingly large foothold in European ports. They have established themselves in Rotterdam and Antwerp, and also manage the port of Piraeus in Athens, which is one of the most important ports in Europe. As late as 2022, Cosco also bought into the port of Hamburg in Germany, despite warnings from the European Commission. They feared that sensitive information about the activity in the port could be passed on to the Chinese authorities. The intelligence service points to precisely this as something they warn against happening in Norway, in their open threat assessment. Facsimile from the National Intelligence Service’s assessment of current security challenges 2023. Photo: The National Intelligence Service Cosco is not structured in the same way as well-known European companies. – In meetings with foreign authorities and organisations, Cosco presents itself as a pure business partner, says Bethany Allen, who heads the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy (ASPI)’s China department to news. But she emphasizes that they are not: – They are not open about the fact that they are an extension of Chinese state power, says Allen. The shipping company is state-owned and under strict control of China’s Communist Party, according to ASPI. The researchers at ASPI have published a report in which it emerges that Cosco shows an ever-increasing willingness to protect both its own and the Communist Party’s interests abroad, including through intelligence. news has submitted these allegations to Cosco, but they have not responded. Critical of dialogue with Cosco Richard Utne, head of maritime security at the Coastal Administration, says that a collaboration with Chinese business could have consequences for the port. – On a general basis, a dialogue between a port and a threat actor, as ASPI refers to, about a possible collaboration, can lead to vulnerability both for national security and international obligations, he writes in an e-mail to news. Richard Utne, head of maritime security at the Norwegian Coastal Administration. Photo: Privat One of the Coast Guard’s tasks is to assess whether Norwegian ports receive ISPS approval (International Ship and Port Facility Security Code). This is an approval ports need in order for them to be able to have international traffic, and part of this approval is a so-called “security risk analysis”. Utne points out that in such an analysis all risks that can affect a port’s safety are relevant. Including the ports’ exposure to foreign states and companies that operate in close interaction with them. – Changes in the port’s values, changes in the threat picture and changes in the security measures’ ability to reduce vulnerabilities could have an impact on the analysis, says Utne. However, Utne does not want to comment on whether Kirkeneshavn’s contact with Chinese actors will have anything to say about the port’s ISPS approval. The Norwegian Coastal Administration states that a collaboration with a Chinese business could have consequences for an ISPS approval. Photo: Ingrid Hjellbakk Kvamstø – We are left to ourselves It is unclear to many what the Norwegian government thinks about Chinese companies establishing themselves near critical infrastructure. This despite the PST and the Norwegian Intelligence Service’s repeated warnings. As recently as during this year’s Kirkenes conference in February, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre himself highlighted the northern sea route as a positive investment. Here he pointed out, among other things, that a lot will happen in the development of technology, energy and shipping. – Here in the north, where the northern sea routes lie in front of us, we can be at the forefront of that, said the Prime Minister. Several sources news has spoken to say they saw this as a green light for Chinese cooperation. Port manager Terje Jørgensen says that the port wants foreign actors to establish themselves through lease agreements in Kirkenes. – Our job is to facilitate shipping companies and logistics players so that they can establish their own business in a municipality that needs new business in the transition after cooperation across the border with Russia is terminated, he writes in an e-mail to news. He is supported by the port’s chairman: – Politically, we are left to ourselves. We have a responsibility to secure society with housing and jobs, says chairman Terje Hansen. Both emphasize at the same time that critical infrastructure in Kirkeneshavn must be owned by the public. – China can influence Norwegian northern area policy Business life in Kirkenes has had a challenging time following Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. The sanctions against Russia have, among other things, led to hundreds of jobs in the border town being at risk. Mayor of Sør-Varanger Magnus Mæland (H) points out that it may therefore be wise to explore the possibilities for the northern sea route. Especially because of China’s role in world trade. Mæland says he sees that exchanging cooperation and trade with totalitarian Russia for authoritarian China can be problematic. – But according to Norwegian policy, we must have an economic relationship with China. Where is the line for what is okay? Mayor of Sør-Varanger Magnus Mæland (H) does not rule out that Chinese actors can rent areas in Kirkenes havn. Photo: Ingrid Hjellbakk Kvamstø Professor Kåre Dahl Martinsen at the Norwegian Defense College has researched, among other things, Norwegian China policy. He says he understands the port manager and the mayor’s dilemma. – Yes, you can’t expect local politicians to run Norwegian security policy when the authorities don’t want to. There is no response from the government when it comes to China, says Dahl Martinsen. Furthermore, he says that a collaboration with Cosco in the Port of Kirkenes could have consequences for Norwegian security policy, because the company is a heavy player with great economic power. – In this way, China can influence Norwegian Arctic policy. We have seen that happen in Greece, says Dahl Martinsen. That’s why they warn against Cosco These are some of the allegations that are directed at Cosco. Economic dependence can be exploited to China’s advantage, write Australian ASPI and British RUSI. Since 2009, Cosco has operated a shipping company in the Greek port city of Piraeus, and pays 100 million euros each year to lease port areas. They used their influence to block China-critical statements from the EU, according to the analysts in ASPI and RUSI. Cosco can use access to a port to spy on traffic, communications and sensitive information. The European Commission warned about this when in 2021 they advised against letting Cosco buy into the Port of Hamburg. Port access in Europe will be able to support the Chinese navy in a future conflict. “China’s stated goal is to create the world’s most powerful military power”, and “then civilian ports will play an important role” for the navy, it was reported to the EU Parliament in 2023. Chinese companies have so far invested in 22 ports in Europe. Legitimate access to information can “be used for illegitimate purposes”, writes the National Security Authority (NSM) to news. They warn that Chinese strategic investments provide access to “sensitive information, technology and expertise”. Economic activity in the north can be used as a springboard for Chinese control in the northern areas, PST believes. They write that intermediaries and pressure are two of several instruments for “China’s desire for increased control over supply chains and positioning in the Arctic.” The security services warn PST manager at the church office Johan Roaldsnes warns against Chinese real estate activity in the northern areas for several reasons. Among other things, China’s ambitions for control and influence in the Arctic. – We consider it problematic if a large state-owned Chinese company establishes itself in Kirkenes. Both because of the strategic location and the general relationship with China, he says. – We see that there are considerations that speak for and against. It is essentially a political decision which factors should be weighed most heavily in the case, he adds. Johan Roaldsnes, head of PST at the church office, says that it is problematic if a large state-owned Chinese company establishes itself in the north. Photo: Kristin Humstad The National Security Authority (NSM) is also concerned about possible collaboration with Cosco. It is, among other things, the financial dependence of the Chinese authorities that they warn against, and believe that this is part of the Chinese strategy to gain information and power. Section manager Lars Steinar Bjørkavåg believes that investments and developments create an economic dependence that opens the door to political pressure. – Through economic cooperation and access to Kirkenes harbour, Chinese actors will be able to gain a foothold and facilitate a presence in the region, he writes to news. Invitation About the Helsinki meeting, port manager Terje Jørgensen says that information was exchanged, but that no concrete plans were made for the way forward. He also denies that the port is in negotiations with Cosco, and says that it is a matter of dialogue. In the e-mail dialogue, it nevertheless emerges that the parties want to establish a timeline and a formal framework for the way forward towards a possible Cosco establishment in Kirkenes. The port manager also expresses a desire to keep in touch with Cosco in the future. He also invites them to visit and inspect the harbor in Kirkenes. Published 19.08.2024, at 13.11 Updated 19.08.2024, at 13.24
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The port manager in Kirkenes in a meeting with controversial Chinese shipping giant Cosco – news Troms and Finnmark
