Ögumundur Jónasson, a member of Althingi for the Left Green and former Minister of Health, wants the Icelandi authorities to send the government of China a clear message that closer cooperation between the two countries does not mean that Iceland will ignore human rights violations in China, according to Morgunbladid.
The reason why the MP makes this statement is a currency exchange agreement between the states, but the Chinese Central bank has only made such an a agreement with seven other states.
Jónasson thinks that even though good will may be guiding the current events, that is quite clear that the Chinese want to gain a foothold in Iceland.
“The Chinese are well known for thinking about their foreign diplomacy in terms of their own long term interest. There are many things indicating that the Chinese became interested in Iceland a while ago. This is possibly because of the fact that Iceland is situated as a country outside the big multinational unions.”
Jónasson is one of the most influential member of the Left Green party. He became Minister of Health when the Socialist Left Green coalition was formed in the spring of 2009. He resigned in September 2009, because of differences over the Icesave agreement that the government wanted to make with the British and Dutch government.
