China cut off ties with Norway in 2010, after the Nobel committee awarded its peace prize to Liu Xiabao, a Chinese dissident convicted of subversion in 2009 for writing a document calling for democracy in China.
Despite Norway’s government having no control over the peace prize selection process, China suspended a bilateral trade deal with Norway and restricted imports of Norwegian salmon.
Now the Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg began a trade trip to China, signaling a restoration of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Solberg met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during a welcoming ceremony, in which the premier told Solberg the visit “symbolizes the normalization of the China-Norwegian relationship.”
China said that the two countries had restored normal relations after Norway “made important and explicit statements on issues concerning China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
