Illustration: Liu Xidan/GT
In early July, on the eve of the NATO summit, China held intensive high-level interactions with Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway. Amid Europe's deep security adjustment, the signal was clear: China stands for dialogue and cooperation, opposes pan-securitization, and wants China-Europe relations back on a rational, pragmatic track.
The Nordic region is a telling window on Europe's changes. With a combined population of under 30 million, the four countries have long ranked among global leaders in innovation and governance, while standing on the front line of Europe's security shifts. After the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, Finland and Sweden joined NATO, ending more than seven decades of military non-alignment and two centuries of neutrality, respectively. European shifts often register first, and most directly, in the north.
China's ties with the Nordic countries occupy a distinctive place in its history with the West. Sweden was the first Western country to establish diplomatic relations with China, Finland the first to sign an intergovernmental trade agreement with it, Norway among the earliest to recognize it, and Denmark the first Nordic country to build a comprehensive strategic partnership with it. Made under Cold War pressure, those choices reflected independent strategic judgment.
More than seven decades on, that foundation has become solid bonds. Approximately 10,000 Swedish companies trade with China; Danish wind, shipping and pharmaceutical firms have cultivated the Chinese market for decades; China is Finland's largest trading partner in Asia, and the basic design of Xuelong 2, China's first domestically built polar research icebreaker, came from a Finnish firm; Norway is a key partner in the green transition, the ocean economy and polar affairs. Last year, China marked 75 years of ties with Denmark, Finland and Sweden.
Over the past decade, however, amid geopolitical upheaval and rising pan-securitization, the relationship has shown a more complicated face: warm in trade, cooler in sentiment. Economic cooperation never stopped and industrial complementarity remains, but public misgivings about China have grown. The root cause is not a fundamental clash of interests: the two sides have neither geopolitical disputes nor structural contradictions. Rather, as the surrounding security environment tightened abruptly, anxiety was amplified and normal cooperation was re-examined through a security filter.
The Nordics are a global source of green technology and high-end manufacturing, complementary to China's vast market. Meanwhile, green cooperation has become the relationship's most promising growth area. A China-Norway free trade agreement would be another important free trade arrangement with a European country. And as Arctic Council members, all four have broad room to work with China on polar research and climate change.
The consensus is equally firm. All four uphold the one-China policy - the political foundation of stable ties. For rules-oriented Nordic states, stable international rules underpin security and development; for China, a fair international order is vital to peaceful development - making multilateralism their deepest point of convergence.
The timing matters: Once the NATO summit convened, Europe's agenda would tilt further toward defense spending and threat perception. Reaching out before bloc narratives heat up tells the Nordics - and all of Europe - that China-Nordic relations have their own historical logic and momentum, targeting no third party and defined by none. China has not read their security choices as hostility, and expects them not to let bloc logic devour the space for cooperation. Security concerns are understandable but should not harden into institutional barriers; strategic misgivings may exist but should not outweigh broad, tangible common interests.
Though on the front line of Europe's security pressures and with public sentiment under strain, the Nordics have shown clear-eyed pragmatism. If Europe's most security-sensitive corner can keep constructive ties with China, China-Europe relations have all the more reason to hold their baseline of dialogue and cooperation. China and Europe are partners, not rivals; Nordic pragmatism holds a lesson for the whole continent. In an uncertain Europe, China's policy continuity, openness and strategic patience are themselves a clear signal of stability and cooperation. Resumed exchanges rebuild intergovernmental trust first; public perception warms more slowly. The next task: leverage visa-free travel and people-to-people exchanges so that direct contact continues to inform public discourse on both sides.
Seventy-six years ago, the Nordic countries recognized the People's Republic of China out of independent strategic judgment. Today, amid a profoundly shifting international landscape, both sides should draw on that history: uphold mutual respect, expand open cooperation, and defend multilateralism. The Nordic story links four countries' cooperation with China, mirrors China-Europe relations and points toward an open, rational and cooperative future amid change.
The author is director of the Nordic Communication Research Center at the Academy of International and Regional Communication Studies, Communication University of China. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn
