China reprimanded Norway for expelling a Chinese scholar from the University of Agder and out of the country on January 21, according to China's state-run news agency Xinhua.

The expulsion of the Chinese student added more friction to the already tense relationship between Norway and China. On Wednesday, Xinhua wrote that Norway violated the rights of the scholar who has been working on a wind-power project for the last two years at the said university.

Like Us on Facebook

Authorities from Norway decided to expel the student, fearing that his expertise would be used for military purposes of other countries but did not specify that the country was referring to China, Xinhua quoted Norwegian broadcasting company NRK as saying.

In an effort to bring more focus on the incident, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei released a statement criticizing Norway's decision to expel the student.

"We think that the allegations are unfounded and violated the basic rights and interests of the relevant Chinese scholar," the spokesman said. "It also undermines Norway's academic image."

Hong was asked if the student was a spy but he declined to comment on it. He then continued to to call on Norway to safeguard he rights and academic freedom of Chinese scholars.

China and Norway have had frozen diplomatic relations since 2010 over a Nobel Peace Prize after Liu Xiaobo, who is considered a rebel, was given the award. Liu is currently serving an 11-year jail sentence in China.

Norway has been firm with their statement that they had nothing to do with the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize but China believes otherwise..

Due to the past incident regarding the Nobel Peace Prize, China has canceled its future meetings with officials from Norway. Aside from that, visas of Norwegians visiting the country have already been denied. 

TagsNorway, Nobel Peace Prie, Liu Xiaobo, Chinese scholar, expulsion, wind-power project, Xinhua