Norway Commends Jailed Dissident as China Spat Looms

Norway’s government congratulated jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo on winning this year’s Nobel Peace Prize as China warned the Nordic country’s relations with the world’s second-biggest economy will suffer after the award.

“We congratulate Liu” for “his work to promote democracy and human rights,” said Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, in a telephone interview today. “It’s important to underline the obvious, which is the clear distinction between the independent Nobel Committee, which takes its decisions 100 percent on its own, and the Norwegian government, which enjoys and develops bilateral relations with China.”