Chinese investments in Scandinavian telecommunication

After some latency in breaking into the Scandinavian telecommunication markets and critical infrastructures, Chinese involvement has been rapidly increasing here over the last decade - more precisely Huawei, who continues to have the by far the largest presence. Today, the company has in the neighbourhood of 1.000 employees in Scandinavia, and more than 10.000 in Europe, while being contracted for billions of dollars, particularly in Denmark.

Huawei's involvement in Scandinavian telecom is a complex matter of national security vis-à-vis trade and potential economic growth through increasing financial relations to China, and it has become practice for Scandinavian authorities to risk-assess incoming investments and contracts.

In a new DIIS Impact, Adam Moe Fejerskov argues for the necessity of such risk-assessments to be approached in a both comprehensive and nuanced fashion. Comprehensiveness entails increasing attention to the environmental and long-term national- and economic-security implications of such investments. Nuancing, on the other hand, implies authorities should not be overly prejudiced or determinist in their risk-assessments of Chinese investments. While the bonds between these and the Chinese state are certainly strong, evidence of criminal or security-compromising activities have not yet materialized, and the productive effects of investments deserve equal attention to potential risks.