China divided on Nobel nominee Liu Xiaobo
Originally published by The Australian,01 Oct 2010
By Michael Sainsbury
CHINESE human rights advocates and academics have thrown their support behind the country’s Nobel Peace Prize nominee .
This came after China’s leaders warned Norway not to hand it to him.
Liu Xiaobo, who was imprisoned for 11 years in February – his third stint in a Chinese jail – for speaking out against the system, has been installed as 6-1 favourite by British bookmakers.
But China has mounted a campaign against the author of the controversial document Charter 08. The director of Norway’s Nobel Institute, Geir Lundestad, said Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Fu Ying, a former ambassador to Australia, had warned that any award would affect relations between the two countries. China is oil-rich Norway’s third-largest export market.
“This person was sentenced to jail because he violated Chinese law,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.
Before China began its campaign against Mr Liu receiving the prize, a group of Chinese academics and human rights advocates had penned an open letter to the Nobel committee supporting Mr Liu’s nomination.
Pu Zhiqiang, a prominent human rights lawyer in Beijing, told The Australian the letter was “an expression of our opinions”.
Mr Liu was jailed for two years following the protests and massacre in Tiananamen Square in 1989 – the same year, incidentally, that the Nobel committee infuriated China by awarding the peace prize to the Dalai Lama.
Mr Liu later served three years in a prison camp for speaking out against China’s authoritarian system.
“Liu Xiaobo changed from a doctor of literature to an advocate of democracy. He has persisted for more than 30 years,” Mr Pu said. “We want his ideas to become more influential to China, and have access to more Chinese people and gain their support.
“The threat to the Nobel prize committee illustrates the fear of Chinese authorities, with the misunderstanding that they can influence it.”