Experts point to risks in China's economic bullying tactics

Mountains of Norwegian salmon left rotting at port. A beachfront resort in Palau abandoned before completion. A sluggish response to a devastating Philippine typhoon: crossing China's "red lines" can have painful economic consequences.

But experts say Beijing's tactical moves towards smaller countries risk backfiring against its broader strategy of building up its political and diplomatic status as a "major responsible country".

Beijing has sought to punish Norway since the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to jailed dissident and pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo - despite Oslo having no control over the prize committee's decisions. Strict new import controls left Norwegian salmon wasting away in Chinese warehouses, and its market share in the country, once 92 per cent, plummeted to 29 per cent last year.

A musical starring Norwegian 2009 Eurovision winner Alexander Rybak had its tour cancelled, and Norwegians are excluded from the mainland's 72-hour transit visa schemes.

"The 'bully boy' tactics China has adopted, especially with regard to small nations such as Norway … are typical of a passive-aggressive kind of personality," said Phil Mead, a British businessman who helps small Chinese companies in the European market.

Norway is far from the only country subjected to China's wrath. Beijing is embroiled in a South China Sea territorial row with Manila, and after Super Typhoon Haiyan struck last November - the most powerful recorded storm ever to make landfall - it initially offered the Philippines only US$100,000.