China: "Will not acknowledge Arctic Council without Russia"

Special Envoy to the Arctic for China, Feng Gao, says China will not support Norway's chairmanship of the Arctic Council if Russia is still banned.
In the spring, Western states decided to refuse to participate in the activities of the working bodies of the Arctic Council during the presidency of Russia in connection with the special operation in Ukraine.
There are legal disputes over Norway’s upcoming chairmanship to the Arctic Council next year. Without consensus from all 8 members of the council, it is questioned whether Norway can assume the chairmanship at all in May 2023, highnorthnews.com writes.
“The Arctic Council is based on a declaration and there is no procedure for leaving the council. I doubt that the chairmanship can be transferred to anyone or that Norway can take over the chair without Russia from a legal point of view,” says Gao.
When questioned whether China will still show up as an observer state to the council if Russia is still banned from the council, the Minister says that there is no solution to this question right now. 
The Arctic Council was established in 1996 on the initiative of Canada with the aim of cooperation in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development of the circumpolar regions. It includes seven more Arctic countries: Russia, USA, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland and Sweden.

Alex Shishlo for Rough&Polished