Norway “snubbed” by China in trade deal

“China in second snub to Norway

By Andrew Ward in Stockholm

Published: October 12 2010 17:40 | Last updated: October 12 2010 17:40

A proposed trade deal between China and Norway could be in jeopardy after Beijing cancelled another round of high-level talks with Oslo, in the second such snub since the Nobel peace prize was awarded to a leading Chinese dissident.

Norway has been negotiating with China since 2008 in a bid to become the first European country to strike a bilateral trade accord with Beijing.

China on Tuesday cancelled a ministerial-level meeting with Lisbeth Berg-Hansen, Norwegian fisheries minister, for the second successive day.

Ms Berg-Hansen was scheduled to meet her counterparts at China’s fisheries ministry and food safety authority as part of talks on bilateral seafood trade.

The Norwegian government has stressed that it had no influence over the Nobel committee’s decision. But this has done little to mollify Beijing, which has portrayed the prize as a western plot to undermine China.

“The Norwegian Nobel Committee, by giving the peace prize to a convicted person in China, shows no respect for the judicial system of China,” said the Chinese foreign ministry. The panel is made up of five former Norwegian politicians elected by the country’s parliament and chaired by a former prime minister.”