(Corrects by clarifying that Finland-China talks on undersea cable incidents in bullet 3 were in 2024, and distinguishes in the last three paragraphs between 2024 and 2026 talks)
By Colleen Howe
BEIJING, Jan 27 (Reuters) - China's President Xi Jinping told Finland's Prime Minister Petteri Orpo on Tuesday that Beijing was ready to work with Helsinki to uphold a U.N.-centred international system and advance a multipolar world based on economic globalisation, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Xi also said Beijing hoped Finland would play a constructive role in promoting the healthy and stable development of China-EU relations, Xinhua reported.
Orpo's visit to China comes as U.S. President Donald Trump's volatile foreign policy decisions and confrontational approach toward allies push European countries to diversify their foreign relations.
It also comes amid heightened attention on Arctic security at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week, after Trump's threat to seize Greenland and prevent China and Russia from expanding their influence in the region.
Those threats appeared to have eased after Trump said the U.S. had secured permanent access to the Danish territory, but Arctic security remains a growing strategic concern for Finland, its NATO partners and China.
The Arctic is becoming increasingly important to international trade as shrinking ice packs open up new and faster shipping routes, cutting transit times between Asia and Europe nearly in half.
Speaking on the sidelines of Davos last week, Finland's President Alexander Stubb said he wanted NATO to agree to an Arctic security deal at its July summit, similar to the big increase in defence spending that it committed to last year.
One-third of Finland's territory lies above the Arctic Circle, while China calls itself a "near-Arctic state" and has ambitions to build a "Polar Silk Road".
Xi also called on Tuesday for the two sides to collaborate more in areas including energy transition, agriculture, and forestry, and welcomed Finnish enterprises to "swim freely" in the "vast ocean" of China's market.
Orpo, who is in Beijing from January 25 to 28, told Xi that he looked forward to continued discussions on bilateral cooperation and international issues.
Orpo referenced the "candid and constructive talks" Xi had with President Stubb during a 2024 state visit to Beijing.
In talks with Xi then, Stubb raised an ongoing string of incidents involving damage to undersea power cables, gas pipelines and telecoms in which Chinese-registered ships have been implicated. A Chinese ship captain is facing allegations of criminal damage in a Hong Kong court in one of the cases.
Stubb in 2024 also raised the issue of North Korean support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which he said NATO and the EU considered a provocation.
As Stubb had in the earlier meeting, Orpo invited Xi to visit Finland at a mutually convenient time, and said Finland's speaker of parliament, Jussi Halla-aho, had invited top lawmaker Zhao Leji to visit.
(Reporting by Colleen Howe; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Michael Perry)
