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EDITORIAL: Nobel's cell: China spurns the peace prize for a jailed dissidentOct 10, 2010 (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- In 2009, President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. It was a controversial selection that said more about the politics of the Nobel committee than it did about the president's achievements on justice or peace. Last week, the Nobel committee got back to basics by giving the prize to imprisoned Chinese democracy dissident Liu Xiaobo. Earlier this year, the human rights campaigner was sentenced to 11 years in prison for alleged subversion against the Chinese communist government. China warned the Norwegian committee that there would be repercussions for honoring a man it described as a "criminal." China is still bitter about the Nobel committee's decision to honor the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, with the peace prize in 1989, the same year as the Tiananmen Square protests. Like all authoritarian states, China fears the prestige the Nobel Peace Prize imparts to its critics. The country doesn't want its human rights record debated on the global stage. International pressure has already begun to mount for China to release Liu Xiaobo. The Chinese government has its censors working full time, but word will get out about the dissident's honor. It is a reminder that despite that nation's economic progress, it remains a prison for those interested in liberty. To see more of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.post-gazette.com. Copyright (c) 2010, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com, e-mail [email protected], or call 866-280-5210 (outside the United States, call +1 312-222-4544). |