A Chinese tycoon wants to buy a huge area of wilderness in Iceland for a $US100 million tourism project.
Huang Nubo is reported to have offered 1 billion krona ($US8.8 million) for the 300sq km Grimsstadir a Fjollum region.
The BBC reports critics of the plan fear it could be used by China to gain a strategic foothold in Iceland and future access to deep sea ports there.
But Icelandic officials have welcomed the purchase and a further 20 billion krona that Mr Huang says he intends to invest.
Mr Huang is the chairman of the Zhongkun investment group. He is also reported to have worked as a minister in the Chinese Central Propaganda Department and Ministry of Construction.
He reportedly wants to spend $US100 million on a luxury hotel and golf course in the north-east.
Iceland's economy crashed in 2008 when three of its major banks collapsed and the country is in urgent need of growth and foreign investment.
Interior Minister Ogmundur Jonasson said China was known for its "long term thinking alongside buying up the world''.
''We face the fact that a foreign tycoon wants to buy 300sq km of Icelandic land. This has to be discussed and not swallowed without chewing,'' he wrote on his website.
Industry Minister Katrin Juliusdottir said it was clear the country had to "tread carefully".
But she said there was ''no reason to get hysterical just because one Chinese man wants to buy some land and invest in tourism in Iceland''.
''Foreigners already own quite a bit of land here.'' she said.
