“All of Reykjavik might be able to fit in that apartment block,” remarks Einar Magnusson, the vice president of business development for Iceland-based Arctic Green Energy Corporation (AGEC), as he drives past miles and miles of Beijing’s residential skyscrapers. Following Jiang Zemin’s visit to Iceland in 2002 – the first-ever by a Chinese President – the two nations opened a new chapter in their partnership, which was originally founded upon shared strategic interests. China’s interest in cleaner energy sources has led to a fruitful area of cooperation with Iceland, where geothermal plants generate 66 percent of the country’s primary energy and provide nine in ten households with heat.

If China is the globe’s most powerful manufacturing engine, the port of Shanghai is its fuel injection valve. This harbor is the world’s busiest, both in terms of tonnage and number of containers processed, allowing China to import the raw materials fueling its development and export the products that represent a significant share of the world’s economy.