Foreign and Military Affairs

Many nations support Beijing's stance

By Li Xiaokun (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-12-11 07:57

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BEIJING - China criticized the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a jailed Chinese subversive on Friday, saying Beijing will resist any attempts to use the prize to interfere in its internal affairs.

Experts said the fact that many of the invited nations stayed away from the ceremony showed strong support for Beijing's stance.

"We are firmly against attempts by any country or individual to use the Nobel Peace Prize to interfere in China's internal affairs and infringe on China's judicial sovereignty," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu.

Jiang said China's position "has won the understanding and support of more than 100 countries and major international organizations".

The reaction followed the Nobel Prize Committee's decision to honor Liu Xiaobo with the peace prize in Oslo on Friday night, Beijing time.

"Facts have fully shown that the decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee does not represent the wishes of the majority of the people around the world, particularly those in developing countries," Jiang said.

Liu, a Chinese citizen, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on Dec 25, 2009, after a Beijing court convicted him of violating Chinese law and engaging in activities designed to overthrow the government. His appeal to the higher court was rejected in February.

The Foreign Ministry earlier warned Norway that its strong support of the Nobel Prize Committee's decision would hamper its relations with China.

On Thursday, Jiang urged United States lawmakers to "change their arrogant and rude attitude" on the Liu Xiaobo issue.

It followed the US House of Representatives' approval of a resolution on Wednesday that congratulated Liu for winning the prize and called on China to release him.

US President Barack Obama said on Friday that Liu Xiaobo represents "universal" values.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Vietnamese foreign ministry said the award of the Nobel Peace Prize this year appeared to have a political objective.

"The goal of the Nobel Peace Prize is to promote peace and friendship among people," Nguyen Phuong Nga said in a statement.

Gao Mingxuan, a noted Chinese criminal law expert, said the decision to give the award to Liu smacks of anti-Chinese sentiment.

"They are obviously harboring political motives."

Ni Feng, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said some Western countries seem to be intent on forcing their values on China.

"It is not strange that the human rights issue haunts the relationship between China and Western countries," Ni said. "They try to impose their standards of human rights on China."

Gao said Liu clearly meant to incite people to subvert legitimate State power and overthrow the government. He said Liu's call to "change the regime" and "set up a federal republic of China" was inflammatory.

"These words went beyond the scope of free speech and were harmful to society," Gao said. "If Chinese people did act according to his wishes, the country would surely suffer from wars and conflicts, destroying the present peace that China has worked so hard to achieve."

Gao said China should instead continue to develop its economy and further its reform and opening-up policies. As for any social problems, he said they would be best dealt with gradually.

Many newspapers have been skeptical about the apparent attempt to manipulate China.

The Nobel Prize Committee's decision to single out the controversial Liu was "tantamount to cultural hegemony and colonialist assumptions of superiority of the worst and most discredited order", wrote the editorial writer at Kenya's Daily Nation earlier this week. But both the Nobel Committee and the US want to "impose their own world views on the rest of humanity".

Jiang, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said prejudice and lies and a Cold War mentality have no place in the modern world and added "this political farce will in no way shake the resolve and confidence of the Chinese people to follow the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics".

Xinhua contributed to this story.

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