2010 Nobel Peace Prize will affect human rights in China: chairman+

STRASBOURG, France, Nov. 26 Kyodo -
Honoring a jailed Chinese dissident with the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize could help
improve the human rights situation in the country, the Norwegian Nobel
Committee chairman said Thursday, emphasizing that the bestowal is ''a peaceful
demonstration.''
This year's awarding of the prize to Chinese pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo
is ''one of the most important'' of the committee's 100-year history, Thorbjorn
Jagland said in an interview with Kyodo News in Strasbourg, France.
''I think it will have some influence'' on China's human rights development, he
added.
Liu, 54, the first Chinese citizen to win the prize, is a key author of Charter
08, a democratic manifesto that calls for sweeping political change in China.
He is currently serving an 11-year prison term for subversion, while his wife
has been under house arrest in China since the announcement of the award.
China regards Liu as ''a criminal'' and has called on many countries not to
take part in the award ceremony. Organizers of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony
are now preparing this year's event on the premise that neither Liu nor a proxy
will be present to receive the award in Oslo on Dec. 10.
Jagland, a former Norwegian prime minister who currently heads the Council of
Europe, said the absence of Liu and his family could raise awareness in the
international community of the seriousness of China's human rights situation.
If his chair remains empty, it would ''show the fact that he was sentenced and
he was not allowed to come to receive the prize. It is underling that there are
deep human rights problems in China,'' the chairman said.
While Beijing has expressed dissatisfaction about the awarding of the prize to
Liu, Jagland expressed optimism regarding the China-Norway relationship, noting
that Chinese leaders are ''pragmatic.''
''I think they will realize it is not for the interest of China'' for the two
countries' diplomatic relations to remain unstable, he said, adding relations
between China and Norway will ''normalize quite soon.''
==Kyodo
2010-11-27 00:49:04


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