Struggling to stand upright against a howling wind, Bragi Benediktsson looked out over his family's land - a barren expanse of snow and ice that a Chinese billionaire wants to turn into a golf course - and laughed. "Golf here is difficult," said Mr. Benediktsson, a 75-year-old sheep farmer.
It was 11 a.m., and a pale sun had only just crawled sluggishly into the sky. The snow, which began falling in September, will probably continue until May. Even for Icelanders accustomed to harsh weather and isolation, Grimsstadir is a particularly desolate spot.
But thanks to a poetry-loving Chinese tycoon with a thing for snow, it has become the setting for a bizarre Icelandic saga featuring geopolitical intrigue, tens of millions of dollars and a swarm of dark conspiracy theories. At the center of the drama is Huang Nubo, a former official in the Chinese Communist Party's Propaganda Department who, now a property developer in Beijing, wants to build a luxury hotel and an "eco golf course" for wealthy Chinese seeking clean air and solitude.
"It never seemed a very convincing business plan," said Iceland's interior minister, Ogmundur Jonasson, who last year rejected a request that Mr. Huang be exempted from Icelandic laws that restrict foreign ownership of land. "I put many questions and got no answers," the minister added.
Prodded by diplomats from the United States and other countries to take a hard look at Mr. Huang's intentions, Mr. Jonasson questioned what might lie behind China's curious interest in Grimsstadir. "One has to look at this from a geopolitical perspective and ask about motivations," Mr. Jonasson said. Full story...
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It was 11 a.m., and a pale sun had only just crawled sluggishly into the sky. The snow, which began falling in September, will probably continue until May. Even for Icelanders accustomed to harsh weather and isolation, Grimsstadir is a particularly desolate spot.
But thanks to a poetry-loving Chinese tycoon with a thing for snow, it has become the setting for a bizarre Icelandic saga featuring geopolitical intrigue, tens of millions of dollars and a swarm of dark conspiracy theories. At the center of the drama is Huang Nubo, a former official in the Chinese Communist Party's Propaganda Department who, now a property developer in Beijing, wants to build a luxury hotel and an "eco golf course" for wealthy Chinese seeking clean air and solitude.
"It never seemed a very convincing business plan," said Iceland's interior minister, Ogmundur Jonasson, who last year rejected a request that Mr. Huang be exempted from Icelandic laws that restrict foreign ownership of land. "I put many questions and got no answers," the minister added.
Prodded by diplomats from the United States and other countries to take a hard look at Mr. Huang's intentions, Mr. Jonasson questioned what might lie behind China's curious interest in Grimsstadir. "One has to look at this from a geopolitical perspective and ask about motivations," Mr. Jonasson said. Full story...
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