Beijing: Denouncing as "a paranoid choice" the
Nobel Committee`s decision to award the Peace Prize to jailed
Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, the official media here today
said it was an attempt to create "an ideological rift" in
China to trigger a collapse like that of the Soviet Union.
The Nobel prize to a dissident "naturally generates
animosity among many Chinese against the award," said `Global
Times`, the only English language newspaper to carry an
editorial on the award to Liu.
Most of the other official newspapers published only the
Chinese Foreign Ministry`s reaction, which condemned the Nobel
Committee for honouring a "criminal".
"They (Chinese) have reason to question whether the Nobel
Peace Prize has been degraded to a political tool that serves
an anti-China purpose. It seems that instead of peace and
unity in China, the Nobel Committee would like to see the
country split by an ideological rift, or better yet, collapse
like the Soviet Union," it said.
Terming the award to Liu, who is serving an 11 year jail
sentence for his advocacy for democracy and human rights in
China, as a "disgrace", the newspaper said the Nobel Committee
"once again displayed its arrogance and prejudice against a
country that has made the most remarkable economic and social
progress in the past three decades."
The Nobel Prize has been generally perceived as a
prestigious award in China, but many Chinese feel the peace
prize is loaded with Western ideology, it said.
"Last century the prize was awarded several times to
pro-West advocates in the former Soviet Union, including
Mikhail Gorbachev, whose efforts directly led to the
disintegration of the Soviet Union. The Western preference of
the Nobel committee did not disappear with the end of the Cold
War. The committee continues to deny China`s development by
making paranoid choices," it said.
"In 1989, the Dalai Lama, a separatist, won the prize.
Liu Xiaobo, the new winner, wants to copy Western political
systems in China. There are many different perspectives to
view these two people, but neither of the two are among those
who made constructive contributions to China`s peace and
growth in recent decades," it said. Other Chinese dissidents such as the exiled leader of Muslim Uyghur community in China`s Xinjiang province and another prominent dissident Hu Jia were reportedly on the shortlist for the peace prize this year, "which naturally
generates animosity among many Chinese against the award," the
paper said.
"Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years in jail by the
Chinese government last year. Several countries tried to
interfere into China`s domestic affairs. What the Nobel
Committee did on Friday was a continuation of that act. The
controversy in the West over Liu Xiaobo`s sentence is not
based on legal concerns. They are trying to impose Western
values on China," it said.
Obviously, the Nobel Peace Prize this year is meant to
irritate China, but it will not succeed, the paper said.
"On the contrary, the Committee disgraced itself. The
award however makes it clearer that it is difficult for China
to win applause from the West during China`s development, and
China needs to be more determined and confident in choosing
its own development path, which is different from Western
approach," it said.
The Nobel committee made an "unwise choice, but it and the
political force it represents cannot dictate China`s future
growth," the editorial said.
PTI
