A minke whale makes its way across Reykjavik's harbour.
A Chinese hotel developer bids on a huge swath of rock and wilderness in northern Iceland, proposing to build an "eco-resort" complete with a golf course, luxury hotel and balloon rides.
The move sparks a flurry of debate both inside and outside the tiny nation of 320,000, with critics speculating that the project is actually a front for a covert Chinese plan to gain a strategic foothold in the North Atlantic. China, they say, could be looking to Iceland as a future military or shipping base, should global warming open up Arctic waters.
So goes the strange story of Huang Nubo, the 129th richest man in China, and, according to various media reports, an amateur poet, mountain climber, patron of the arts and keeper of exotic pets.
Even without the murmurs of global conquest, a bid like Mr. Huang's -- $8.8-million for 30,000 hectares or 0.3 per cent of Icelandic territory -- is well out of the ordinary for Iceland. The country has never permitted the sale of such a large piece of real estate to an outsider. And Mr. Huang's offer for the property -- 25 per cent owned by the Icelandic government -- requires a special exception to a law barring the sale of land to a foreign entity, said Ogmundur Jonasson, Iceland's Minister of the Interior.
"I must say this is a very unusual request," Mr. Jonasson said in an interview. "Requests usually have to do with small properties, a few hectares. Thirty thousand hectares, you know, that's something quite different."
Much of the skepticism about Mr. Huang is driven by his links to the Chinese government. He has worked for China's propaganda department and the Ministry of Construction according to the Financial Times.
Mr. Huang has denied he is acting for his government and insists the project is merely a commercial enterprise. His interest in Iceland began long ago at Peking University, where he shared a room with an Icelandic student. He has vowed to work fully with Icelandic authorities, and has renounced any claim to water from a glacial river on the property. But that hasn't done much to quell the speculation.
There are plenty of analysts who believe Iceland is right to be guarded.
"I do think it would be a mistake to discount that he may be very well connected," said William Callahan, a professor of international politics and China studies at the University of Manchester. "I think it's reasonable to ask questions about what's going on and to try to look into the background of the players."
Others note that the hype surrounding the land deal suggests an excessive sensitivity to the shift in global power and Chinese business interests abroad.
"There is a sort of exaggerated assessment both of the importance and therefore fear of China in the West because we are in the midst of a China fever," said Steve Tsang, director of the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham. "You have a longstanding and consistent attempt on the part of the Chinese government to not help the outside world to understand how policies are made in China. That's what gets people worried."
Mr. Jonasson, who will decide the fate of Mr. Huang's bid in the coming weeks, says he will be cautious.
"We have to consider all these aspects and the possible global interests of foreign powers. Of course we have to take such things into consideration."