IN ANY tiff with a smaller country over trade or politics, China tends to enjoy an advantage. Its growing geopolitical stature and economic might ensure that most of the world's minnows think twice before confronting the biggest fish. Norway, with a population of 5m, is the size of a small Chinese city. And it is proving an exception.

China reacted harshly in October 2010 when an independent Norwegian committee awarded the Nobel peace prize to Liu Xiaobo, an imprisoned Chinese dissident. (The committee left a chair symbolically empty for him at the awards ceremony.) Mr Liu was long known to be a front-runner for the prize and, for months before the announcement, the Norwegian government told China the decision was out of its hands. But China still made Norway pay. It snubbed Norwegian ministers, suspended talks on a free-trade agreement, and suddenly denied entry to shipments of the country's famed salmon.

Earlier this month the Norwegian prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, lamented that ties with China have still not returned to normal. “It's very static,” he said. But if Beijing is expecting an apology, it will have to wait. “That would be politically disastrous [at home] for us,” says one Norwegian official.

With a stable security environment (far from China), solid growth, a large budget surplus, low unemployment and one of the world's highest living standards, Norway is well-placed to weather China's deep-freeze treatment. Because China accounts for less than 2% of Norway's exports, the economic consequences seem eminently manageable.

Indeed, Norway may now be tempted to exert some leverage of its own. China is seeking permanent observer status at the Arctic Council, a multilateral forum which discusses security, shipping and energy issues in the high north. The Chinese are interested in the region's undersea resources and possible shorter shipping routes. As one of eight members, Norway has the power to block China's accession. It denies press reports claiming it has already decided to use its veto. But it has readily pointed to the difficulty of co-operating with a partner that is unwilling even to meet.