Reuters
Feb 2, 2010

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Foreign Ministry warned on Tuesday against giving a Nobel Peace Prize to leading jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo, a nomination made by the U.S. chapter of rights group International Pen.

A Chinese court jailed Liu, a prominent critic of Communist Party rule, for 11 years on Christmas Day on a subversion charge after he co-authored Charter 08, a petition calling for broad political and democratic reforms.

Pen American Centre president Kwame Anthony Appiah last week sent a nomination for Liu to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, noting his “distinguished and principled leadership in the area of human and political rights and freedom of expression”.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said it would be a mistake to give Liu such an award.

“If the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to such a person, it is obvious that it is totally wrong,” Ma told a regular news briefing in Beijing, without elaborating.

Liu is a member of the Chinese chapter of Pen, which campaigns for freedom of expression.    more …