From Norway to Estonia, Beijing is expanding its investment footprint across Northern Europe. On a map, they appear so close together: Helsinki and Tallinn, the capitals of Finland and Estonia, sit just 50 miles from each other across the Gulf of Finland. Yet in practice, they couldn’t seem farther apart, especially given their close cultural, linguistic and, increasingly, economic ties. On a good day, it takes about two hours by ferry to cross the often choppy waters. But not for long, if an ambitious project to directly connecting the two cities takes off. Officials in both capitals have long considered such a link, but now, for the first time, there’s hard money behind the project — $17 billion, to be exact. The 60-mile tunnel — it would be the world’s longest undersea rail crossing — would dramatically shorten travel time between the cities to around half an hour. Proponents believe it could transform an already well-developed region into a Northern European hub of commerce and innovation. There’s just one catch: It’s largely Chinese cash that would make this dream come true. | 