Norway and China continue Liu Xiaobo catfight

By Shanghaiist on Jan 26, 2012

By Cal Widdall

Arctic_Council_With_Observers.jpg In the latest escalation of handbags between Norway and China, a highly placed Norwegian diplomatic source has told a national newspaper that Norway could shut Beijing out of the Arctic Council.

Since Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, International relations between China and Norway have been tense.

Despite Norway's insistence on the independent nature of the committee, China has snubbed the country in a number of imaginative ways. Until now, Norway had attempted to appease China (employing similarly imaginative means), but with no signs of progress it appears they have changed their strategy, opting instead to give Beijing the cold shoulder.

China's application for observer status in the Arctic Council is vital to their interests, and not only because the region is a source of abundant resources. It also contains what has the potential to become the world's most important trade route - a new passage between Europe and China.

No word yet on whether Kong Qingdong considers the Norwegians to be fish-eating running dogs of the Danish.


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  • dave parker
    awesome. norway rocks.
  • I think the original intention to set up the Peace Prize was for peace
    rather than disputes, the reason why people from all of the world
    respect the Noble Prizes is the achievement of those prize awardees
    having been comprehensively acknowledged.
  • BBC_Redux
    Well, some of those that had been awarded the prize do not fall into that category, like Barack Obama, what did he do to actually achieve peace? Or even Liu, what has he done for peace?
  • Redux, Obama was the first guy not of the dominant ethnicity of a country to be elected leader. That is a big deal. If you are unaware of the positive effects of his election on race relations in the US (and the world at large) one is forced to conclude you don't have any black friends and probably no Western friends either. Even though I would agree that the award was premature, you are being an even more obvious troll than usual by acting like he didn't achieve anything.


    As for Liu, well: bravely calling for freedom of speech in a land where it is denied, refusing to capitulate, apologise or flee the land he loves in the face of threats to himself, his friends and his family as well as repeated imprisonment and beatings from the mindless thugs, plainclothes and uniformed, who remind people who is in charge with their fists and feet. People get the prize for things like that, too.
  • BBC_Redux
    BS! Carlos Menem, an Arab, was elected President of Argentina.

    And I was not disputing the legacy of Obama, I am disputing the decision to give the Nobel Peace Prize to him. He in fact has done nothing for peace, calling for the ramp up in Afghanistan and supporting the Libyan campaign.

    As for Liu, saying China would be better off if colonized and his support for the Iraq war are certainly not credentials for the peace prize. So what peace has he brokered??? The common Chinese don't even take him seriously. There are many dissidents that I admire, including that blind activist in Shangdong, but Liu, he is a hero in Western eyes, but a dog for the Chinese.
  • Norway can be dependent because it has so many natural resources. It is one of the most wealthiest countries in the world and can afford to have a bad relation.
  • LSD2012
    Norway ....has so many natural resources....can afford to have a bad relation? Oh, yeah, it can afford to have another Breivik while China cannot afford a single pointing finger.
  • BBC_Redux
    A trade route between China and Europe thru the arctic ocean won't fly, it's a fantasy.

    As for Norway and Denmark, the countries have been separated by centuries, but even then, regional animosities do occur in Scandinavia, like the people of Skania and Stockholm in Sweden. I won't be surprised if Stockholmers call Scanians running dogs of the Danes, since Scania was ruled by Denmark in the past, so here is your parallel. And the Danes are ethnically very close to Norwegians, their differences in language similar to Teochew (Chaozhou) and Hokkien (Min Nan), not much.

    Norway has a lot of oil, so it really does not need any Chinese financial inducements but what it fears is China blocking its political objectives in the wider world. Norway likes to play the benign ambassador of the world and wishes to punch above its weight. China can frustrate it.

    As for Arctic resources, China really do not have any clout in exploiting it as it falls out of it's economic sphere as it is the domain of Russia, Canada and the US (Norway is a small player). But if Russia and Canada invites China to participate in drilling there, there is nothing much Norway can do about it.
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