Professor Emeritus Petter Nore (right) and Associate Professor Zhang XIN at East China Normal University (ECNU) during the visit to Shanghai in December 2024. Photo: Private.
Petter Nore, Professor Emeritus at Nord University and affiliated with the High North Center, recently lectured at East China Normal University (ECNU) in Shanghai on the topic "Norway in the Arctic; new geoeconomic realities."
He also participated in a roundtable lunch discussion about the current situation in the Arctic arranged by the Norwegian Consul General in Shanghai.
Nord University has collaborated with ECNU since 2016, and during this period, many Chinese students have been master's students who have taken part in the partnership program at the Business School of Nord University.
In the coming semester, four students from ECNU will live in Bodø and participate in the course "Energy Transition" as part of their exchange semester for MSc in Sustainable Leadership and Arctic Perspectives.
Meanwhile, several Norwegian students have spent time in Shanghai as part of their master's courses degree in Sustainable Leadership and Arctic Perspectives.
New Realities
During his visit from December 8-11, he met with former and new students, as well as academics from several institutions in the Shanghai area.
In the current tense geopolitical situation, it is important to maintain a relationship with Chinese universities like ECNU
Petter Nore
– I had a strong feeling that many of those I met were very interested in what the new situation in the Arctic could mean for the relationship between Norway and other Arctic countries, including China, says Nore.
In his lectures, Nore based his discussion on three "new realities."
– Firstly, increasing 'securitization' where many more aspects in the Arctic are being placed in a security policy context as a direct result of the war in Ukraine.
– Secondly, Trump as a new and unpredictable president in the USA, and finally climate changes are accelerating, explains Nore.
Changed Situation
Together, these factors will undermine what has previously been seen as "Arctic exceptionalism" - that is, the belief that the Arctic is a global exception for defining stability in the region, he explains.
Nore then went through the consequences of this changed situation for the future oil and gas sector in the Barents Sea, for the plans (now postponed) to extract minerals from the seabed, and for Norwegian authorities' desire to diversify business in the northern regions – everything from battery production to a greener maritime sector and increased tourism.