The fact that Norway had a new government does not seem to change anything in the relationships between the two countries, which has not been the best since the Nobel prize in 2010.
It will not lead to any changes in the tense relationship between China and Norway, that Norway recently had a new government, Danish Newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad reported. That is how the message from the Chinese Foreign Ministry to Norwegian broadcast NRK sound.
“It is completely up to the Norwegian government to improve the relationship to China. It knows what to do,” said a spokesperson from the ministry in Beijing to the Norwegian TV-station.
Norway’s new Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, who pointed out Børge Brende, as the new Foreign Minister, is on good terms with the Prime Minister of China, Li Keqiang, because Brende has been special adviser for China’s government in reference to climate issues.
But that does not mitigate the Chinese.
“That Foreign Minister Børge Brende and Prime Minister Li Keqiang are close friends makes no difference. Norway has created this situation, and Norway will have to solve it,” the spokes person said.
The relationship between the two countries have been bad since the dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010.
Now it will be Brende’s task to reestablish the former good relations between the two countries. Brende comes from a top position in World Economic Forum.
Asked by the news agency NTB, if it was relevant to apologize to China for the award of the peace price, Brende replied that he would not “enter that discussion”.
When Brende was appointed as minister on Wednesday 16 October, he said that the Norwegian government has a strong wish to re-create the good connections and business relations between China and Norway.
“Personally, I have felt that the interpretation on China sometimes gets one-dimensional. China is both a country of development and industry. China has not fully been acknowledged for the tremendous steps in the right direction, it has taken,” said Brende to NTB.
He mentions that 600 millions Chinese have been lifted out of poverty the past years.
The Norwegian salmon exporters are among those who have felt the consequences of the Chinese anger.
In prior to the controversy about the Nobel Peace prize in 2010 Norway had a share on more than 90 percent of China’s salmon import in total. According to Financial Times the share declined to less than 30 percent this year.
Source, (only in Danish) here.
