“Imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo on Friday October 8, 2010, won the Nobel Peace Prize. Obviously China is not happy about this, no news about the Nobel Peace Prize is reported on Chinese media; the name “Liu Xiaobo” along with “Nobel Peace Prize” became sensitive keywords which will give you empty search result on Baidu. The following article is probably the only thing you will find on China’s news sites.
(From Xinhua News) Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ma Chaoxu said on October 8, the Nobel Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo is completely going against the purpose of the award, and also is an insult to the Peace Prize.
On October 8th, the Nobel committed awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. During the Q&A sessions Ma Chaoxu said, the Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded “to someone who promotes national harmony, international friendship and disarmament; someone who works hard on holding and promoting peace meetings”, which is Nobel’s wish. Liu Xiaobo is a criminal who has been sentenced to imprisonment for violating the Chinese Law, his behavior was going in the opposite direction of the purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Committee awarded such person is completely going against the purpose of the award, and also is an insult to the Peace Prize.
When Ma Chaoxu answered the question of whether Liu Xiaobo winning the Nobel Peace Prize will affect Sino-Norway relations, he said, in the recent years, Sino-Norway relations have maintained sound development, which is beneficial to the interests of both countries and both countries’ people. However the Nobel Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo is completely contradicting the purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize, and also will damage the Sino-Norway relations.”
In a symbolic victory for human rights in China, political dissident Liu Xiaobo has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China”. Despite threats from the Chinese government, the Peace Prize Committee awarded him the prize along with $1.5 Million cash, both of which he is unable to claim. Liu created Charter 08, a manifesto signed by thousands of Chinese calling for political reform. In response, the Chinese government did what it always does in this situation. They arrested him, gave him an unfair trial, and threw him in jail for 11 years. After he was awarded the prize, his wife disappeared, likely by the hands of the CCP. China also summoned their ambassador to Norway and said the award would hurt Sino-Norwegian relations, despite that the Nobel Prize Institute is independent from the government. The last time China was this mad was in 1989 when the Dalai Lama got the prize, but that was 20 years ago and the Tiananmen Square Protests were taking place, putting China in poor position to lash back at Norway. That has apparently changed now, and I bet next time a Chinese dissident is awarded the prize, the diplomatic consequences will be more severe.
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