|
¡@
Liu Xiaobo awarded Nobel Peace Prize
EMPTY PLACE:The Chinese dissident was represented by a
portrait and an empty chair at the podium. The BBC and CNN went dark in China as
the ceremony began
Agencies, OSLO, BEIJING and GDANSK, POLAND
¡@
Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland sits next to the empty
chair where Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo would have sat during the Nobel
Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo yesterday. Jagland placed Liu¡¦s Nobel diploma and
the box containing his gold medal on the seat.
Photo: Reuters
Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (¼B¾åªi) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday
in an Oslo ceremony derided by Beijing as a farce, and dedicated it from his
prison cell to the ¡§lost souls¡¨ of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
As a small pro-China demonstration went ahead in Oslo, about 1,000 ambassadors,
Norway¡¦s king and queen, other dignitaries and scores of Chinese dissidents
defied Chinese anger to attend the ceremony in a flower-decked Oslo city hall.
In Beijing, police stepped up patrols at key points yesterday, including
Tiananmen Square and Liu¡¦s apartment where his wife is believed to be under
house arrest. Authorities tightened a clampdown on dissidents. Western news Web
sites, including the BBC and CNN, went black at 8pm, as the ceremony got
underway in Oslo.
¡§Liu Xiaobo has done nothing wrong and Beijing must release him, Nobel Committee
chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said at the Oslo ceremony. ¡§Liu has only exercised
his civil rights. He has not done anything wrong. He must be released.¡¨
Standing on a flower-decked podium next to an empty chair and a large portrait
to represent the absent Liu, Jagland said China¡¦s Constitution gives its
citizens the right to ¡§freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of
association, of procession and of demonstration.¡¨
¡§In the past 100 to 150 years, human rights and democracy have gained an
ever-stronger position in the world,¡¨ he said.
Therefore, ¡§the human rights activists in China are defenders of the
international order and the main trends in the global community. Viewed in that
light, they are thus not dissidents, but representatives of the main lines of
development in today¡¦s world,¡¨ he said.
Liu¡¦s ¡§views will in the long run strengthen China,¡¨ Jagland said.
¡§Liu has told his wife that he would like this year¡¦s Peace Prize to be
dedicated to ¡¥the lost souls from the 4th of June.¡¦ It is a pleasure for us to
fulfill his wish,¡¨ Jagland said.
He then placed the Peace Prize diploma and gold medal on the empty chair,
explaining it was impossible to hand it to Liu or any of his close family
members, who were prevented from traveling to Oslo for the ceremony.
It was the first time that a laureate under detention has not been formally
represented since Nazi Germany barred journalist and pacifist Carl von Ossietzky
from attending in 1935.
Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann read out an address made by Liu, 54, during his
trial for subversion in December last year. He was sentenced to 11 years at that
trial.
¡§Hatred can rot away at a person¡¦s intelligence and conscience. [The] enemy
mentality will poison the spirit of a nation, incite cruel mortal struggles,
destroy a society¡¦s tolerance and humanity, and hinder a nation¡¦s progress
toward freedom and democracy. That is why I hope to be able to transcend my
personal experiences as I look upon our nation¡¦s development and social change,
to counter the regime¡¦s hostility with utmost goodwill, and to dispel hatred
with love,¡¨ Liu told the court.
However, the former literature professor also saw cause for hope.
¡§It is precisely because of such convictions and personal experience that I
firmly believe that China¡¦s political progress will not stop, and I, filled with
optimism, look forward to the advent of a future free China. For there is no
force that can put an end to the human quest for freedom and China will in the
end become a nation ruled by law, where human rights reign supreme,¡¨ Liu said.
Liu will receive his gold medal, Nobel diploma and prize money of 10 million
Swedish kronor (US$1.5 million) at a later date.
China denounced the award again last night, saying it was a ¡§political farce¡¨
that did not represent the majority of the world, especially not developing
nations.
¡§We resolutely oppose any country or any person using the Nobel Peace Prize to
interfere with China¡¦s internal affairs or infringe upon China¡¦s legal
sovereignty,¡¨ Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Jiang Yu («¸·ì) said in a
statement on the ministry¡¦s Web site
In Gdansk, however, Polish Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa slammed Russia
and other governments who shunned the award ceremony.
¡§The attitude of these countries, in particular Russia, shows what they actually
think of freedom and human rights,¡¨ Walesa said.
¡§I really can¡¦t understand what Russia¡¦s afraid of regarding China,¡¨ added
Walesa, who was awarded the prize in 1983 for his bloodless opposition to
Poland¡¦s pro-Soviet communist regime.
Walesa blasted Beijing for keeping Liu behind bars and for preventing his wife
from coming to collect the prize, saying: ¡§In 1983, the Polish communists showed
a more human face.¡¨
Walesa¡¦s wife represented him at that year¡¦s ceremony, after he decided he could
not collect it in person fearing that the regime would bar him from returning
home.
¡@
|
