Oslo municipality feared that the Chinese company would gain access to critical infrastructure. Norwegian security authorities are concerned that Russia and China are buying up property, investing in companies or winning tenders for large construction projects, which could give access to critical Norwegian infrastructure. Often and to an increasing extent, this takes place covertly, through shell companies, says the National Security Authority, NSM. Awareness of this has increased dramatically after Russia’s invasion of Krym, and involvement in Eastern Ukraine in 2014. China and Russia are the two most important countries that the Police Security Service, PST, says belong to the group of countries known as state threat actors. news can now tell the story of how the Norwegian Water and Wastewater Agency in Oslo worked to prevent a Chinese company with ties to the Chinese authorities from building a central part of the water supply to Norway’s capital. Why was it so important to avoid? – So doubts about the safety of our water supply Director of NSM Sofie Nystrøm says countries such as China and Russia are on the lookout for secrets and technology that they can use to their advantage vis-à-vis Norway. Therefore, NSM was concerned that China, through a company, should not gain access to the construction of Oslo’s water supply. – In an aggravated situation, for example as a reaction and to signal to the Norwegian authorities from China, this type of infrastructure can be misused. Therefore, it is in our interest to have national control and trust in everyone involved in these value chains, says Nystrøm. – What do you think China could possibly do with the drinking water in Oslo? – For drinking water and sewage, you have management systems that can be influenced. You can also cast doubt on the safety of our water supply, which in turn creates unrest in the population. So there are a number of opportunities to influence and make the population uneasy, says Nystrøm. – These are instruments that are not military, but which are used as a hybrid instrument that can be used in pressure situations in the future, she says. Sofie Nystrøm is director of the National Security Authority. Photo: Oda Hveem / Oda Hveem NSM and PST advised the Norwegian Water and Wastewater Agency in the process of building a new water supply to Oslo. The aim was to avoid companies from countries such as China and Russia. China: State control of private business Oslo’s water supply is vulnerable, because almost all the drinking water comes from one place, Maridalsvannet. A failure here could have serious consequences for the city’s population. Therefore, a new water supply is now being built in addition to Maridalsvannet, which will take water from Holsfjorden in Lier municipality, piped into Oslo. New water supply tunnels, or what is called a main network, must also be built at intersections and along Oslo. It was in this context that Oslo and NSM were afraid that a specific Chinese company would come in, which often offers this type of assignment. According to Chinese law, any Chinese citizen or business can be required to cooperate with the country’s intelligence apparatus. According to PST, this means that actors who initially have good intentions can be ordered to obtain information on behalf of the one-party state. China also has a lack of distinction between the private sector, the state and the party. In China, there is significant and growing government control over private business. Chinese authorities also have a strategic campaign to involve commercial technology companies in military modernization. The result is that it is very challenging to distinguish between purely commercial players and players who are used for intelligence purposes, according to PST’s open threat assessment. NSM gave advice in around 50 cases last year Last year NSM worked on around 50 cases where they gave advice to businesses in cases that could be a security threat. The reason was the suspicion that countries such as China or Russia were somehow involved in a tender, or an acquisition of property or a company. – There may be real estate investments around defense facilities. There may be subcontractors who are acquired in order to gain a foothold in important value chains. It may be parts for military procurement. We see a wide range of tools being used. So financial transactions, both tender processes and other things, are part of the package of instruments used against Norway, says Nystrøm. NSM then assesses whether they believe the trade is safe, or whether it should be stopped. – These are difficult assessments. The real owner often hides behind straw companies, there is a lot of information to be unraveled in order to get all the information on the table to make the good decisions, says Nystrøm. – Vulnerabilities that can be exploited for sabotage Inside the mountain hall at Huseby in Oslo, many meters below the ground, stands the drilling machine that will gnaw 19 kilometers through the mountain, in the direction of the Holsfjorden. Here at Huseby, the raw water from the Holsfjorden will come out, and here it will be processed and filtered. Jan Tobiassen is director of management and development at the Norwegian Water and Wastewater Agency in Oslo. He also has overall responsibility for security. – When we build a new water treatment plant and a new delivery into Oslo, we must ensure safety from the outset. What we do not want is to have vulnerabilities built into the new facility. Vulnerabilities that can be exploited for sabotage at a later stage, for example by the whole thing being blown up, says Tobiassen. – Specifically, it was a Chinese company that you were worried about. Can you tell us a little bit about what happened? – The National Security Authority NSM tipped us off about a company that could be relevant to deliver an offer for a new water supply in Oslo. The company had connections to the Chinese state. This can create challenges for us. What we are afraid of there is either that information about our socially critical infrastructure will get into their hands, or that they will think of building vulnerabilities into the water supply that can be exploited at a later stage, says Tobiassen. – Reduced the possibility of this unwanted player coming in. How did Oslo municipality solve this, to avoid the Chinese company submitting an offer, and later risking getting the job? These are sensitive questions, and Tobiassen weighs his words. – What we did was that we set specific quality requirements in the procurement, which reduced the possibility of this undesirable player entering the construction side. – Is this legal? – Yes. We used the room for opportunity in the procurement regulations. Jan Tobiassen is department director at the Norwegian Water and Wastewater Agency in Oslo. Photo: Tormod Strand / news Tobiassen will not say which Chinese company it is about. The process ended with no offer from the Chinese company. – All information about our infrastructure was open. He acknowledges that the awareness of critical infrastructure was not so good a few years ago, and is honest that if this had happened 15 years ago, the water supply to Oslo could have been partly built by China. – 15 years ago, the Water and Sewerage Agency was not very aware of safety. All information about our infrastructure was openly available to everyone. We happily invited whoever was visiting our facilities. The situation has changed drastically in the last 10-12 years, says Tobiassen. The NSM confirms this picture, that low awareness may have previously meant that countries such as China and Russia have entered the ownership side of businesses, which could be a security threat. – That’s correct. We process the information we get reported, but our concern is all that we don’t see and don’t get treated in a good way. Right now, we know that there are several properties and companies that have Chinese or Russian origins, which we are unable to uncover. The awareness of the business community should improve. says director of NSM Sofie Nystrøm. The Chinese embassy: Shocked The Chinese embassy in Oslo writes in a comment on the case that Norway claims they are a country with legal certainty and a market economy. The embassy writes that they are shocked by the targeted market manipulation in this case, and will express their opposition to the unfair treatment of Chinese companies. It is to be hoped that the authorities in Norway have concrete evidence, instead of throwing out false accusations. Otherwise, this will not only destroy the trust foreign companies have in the Norwegian market, but also damage Norway’s reputation as a free and open society, writes the embassy. The embassy also writes that it is not right that Chinese citizens and companies can be forced to cooperate with the intelligence services. It is a misrepresentation of Chinese law, according to China.
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Was afraid that a Chinese company would build vulnerabilities into Oslo’s drinking water – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
