Oslo:
With an empty chair on the podium, Norway's Nobel Committee braved furious Chinese protests on Friday, preparing to honor the jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in his absence, without handing over its coveted, golden peace medal to a named winner for the first time in over 70 years.
Around a third of the 64 invited countries with embassies in Oslo resolved to stay away from the event after China threatened unspecified reprisals against those countries -- including the United States -- attending what is traditionally a glamorous and glittery event in Oslo's City Hall.
The committee announced its choice of Mr. Liu in October, saying it wished to endorse his struggle for human rights. It was not the first time a prominent dissident had been awarded the prize: Andrei D. Sakharov, the Soviet physicist, Polish labor leader Lech Walesa and the Burmese pro-democracy campaigner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, have all been named winners and were represented at the Oslo ceremony by close relatives.
And there have been occasions in times of world war -- and when no winner was chosen -- that the prize was not awarded.
But with Mr. Liu in prison serving an 11-year term for subversion and his wife, Liu Xia, under house arrest, the committee ruled that it would withhold the medal, the diploma and a check worth roughly $1.5 million while continuing with the rest of the gala event . In an interview before the ceremony, the committee's director, Geir Lundestad, said an empty chair and a photograph of Mr. Liu would be displayed.
The last comparable award in absentia was the 1935 prize -- scheduled to be awarded in 1936 -- for the German journalist and pacifist Count Carl von Ossietzky, who was in a Nazi concentration camp in 1935 and under guard in hospital in 1936. He died in 1938 without receiving the prize.
In 1936, according to Mr. Lundestad, a man fraudulently claiming to be a lawyer representing the count accepted the check but was not given the peace prize or the medal.
In advance of Friday's ceremony, China ratcheted up its tirades against the choice of Mr. Liu. Friday's China Daily, the government's main English-language daily, carried a banner headline proclaiming: "Most nations" oppose peace prize to Liu -- award "cannot change fact he is a criminal."
On Thursday, Chinese censors apparently began blocking the news Web sites of CNN, the BBC and the Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
The committee has insisted that the award is not intended as an insult, said Thorbjorn Jagland, the chairman of the five-person peace prize committee chosen by the Norwegian Parliament, which awards the prize.
"It is a signal to China that it would be very important for China's future to combine economic development with political reforms and support for those in China fighting for basic human rights," Mr. Jagland said on Thursday.
The empty chair for Mr. Liu is "a very strong symbol" showing "how appropriate this prize was," Mr. Jagland said.
Nobel officials have depicted the choice of Mr. Liu -- the first Chinese citizen to be awarded the prize -- as part of the committee's long tradition of support for dissidents in oppressive lands, such as Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu of South Africa, who was permitted by the apartheid authorities to travel to Oslo to receive the prize in 1984.
On Tuesday, however, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Jiang Yu, insisted that the broader international community was on China's side.
"By awarding this year's Nobel Peace Prize to a criminal serving his sentence because of breaking Chinese law, the Norwegian Nobel committee's move constitutes open support of illegal criminal activities in China and flagrant interference in China's judicial sovereignty," Ms. Jiang said, according to news reports. "The erroneous decision not only has met with firm opposition by the entire Chinese nation but is dismissed by the vast majority of countries upholding justice in the world."
The Chinese authorities have called the committee "clowns."
According to Mr. Lundestad, the committee invites only the 64 countries with embassies in Oslo. Of those, 19, including Russia, have said they will not be attending on Friday for a variety of reasons.
The ceremony is scheduled to include readings by the Norwegian actor and movie director Liv Ullmann, and speeches and songs by children before an audience including the Norwegian royal family and other dignitaries.
Mr. Liu was jailed in December 2009 for after co-authoring a call for reform and rights in China.
Around a third of the 64 invited countries with embassies in Oslo resolved to stay away from the event after China threatened unspecified reprisals against those countries -- including the United States -- attending what is traditionally a glamorous and glittery event in Oslo's City Hall.
The committee announced its choice of Mr. Liu in October, saying it wished to endorse his struggle for human rights. It was not the first time a prominent dissident had been awarded the prize: Andrei D. Sakharov, the Soviet physicist, Polish labor leader Lech Walesa and the Burmese pro-democracy campaigner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, have all been named winners and were represented at the Oslo ceremony by close relatives.
And there have been occasions in times of world war -- and when no winner was chosen -- that the prize was not awarded.
But with Mr. Liu in prison serving an 11-year term for subversion and his wife, Liu Xia, under house arrest, the committee ruled that it would withhold the medal, the diploma and a check worth roughly $1.5 million while continuing with the rest of the gala event . In an interview before the ceremony, the committee's director, Geir Lundestad, said an empty chair and a photograph of Mr. Liu would be displayed.
The last comparable award in absentia was the 1935 prize -- scheduled to be awarded in 1936 -- for the German journalist and pacifist Count Carl von Ossietzky, who was in a Nazi concentration camp in 1935 and under guard in hospital in 1936. He died in 1938 without receiving the prize.
In 1936, according to Mr. Lundestad, a man fraudulently claiming to be a lawyer representing the count accepted the check but was not given the peace prize or the medal.
In advance of Friday's ceremony, China ratcheted up its tirades against the choice of Mr. Liu. Friday's China Daily, the government's main English-language daily, carried a banner headline proclaiming: "Most nations" oppose peace prize to Liu -- award "cannot change fact he is a criminal."
On Thursday, Chinese censors apparently began blocking the news Web sites of CNN, the BBC and the Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
The committee has insisted that the award is not intended as an insult, said Thorbjorn Jagland, the chairman of the five-person peace prize committee chosen by the Norwegian Parliament, which awards the prize.
"It is a signal to China that it would be very important for China's future to combine economic development with political reforms and support for those in China fighting for basic human rights," Mr. Jagland said on Thursday.
The empty chair for Mr. Liu is "a very strong symbol" showing "how appropriate this prize was," Mr. Jagland said.
Nobel officials have depicted the choice of Mr. Liu -- the first Chinese citizen to be awarded the prize -- as part of the committee's long tradition of support for dissidents in oppressive lands, such as Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu of South Africa, who was permitted by the apartheid authorities to travel to Oslo to receive the prize in 1984.
On Tuesday, however, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Jiang Yu, insisted that the broader international community was on China's side.
"By awarding this year's Nobel Peace Prize to a criminal serving his sentence because of breaking Chinese law, the Norwegian Nobel committee's move constitutes open support of illegal criminal activities in China and flagrant interference in China's judicial sovereignty," Ms. Jiang said, according to news reports. "The erroneous decision not only has met with firm opposition by the entire Chinese nation but is dismissed by the vast majority of countries upholding justice in the world."
The Chinese authorities have called the committee "clowns."
According to Mr. Lundestad, the committee invites only the 64 countries with embassies in Oslo. Of those, 19, including Russia, have said they will not be attending on Friday for a variety of reasons.
The ceremony is scheduled to include readings by the Norwegian actor and movie director Liv Ullmann, and speeches and songs by children before an audience including the Norwegian royal family and other dignitaries.
Mr. Liu was jailed in December 2009 for after co-authoring a call for reform and rights in China.
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