By Phurbu Thinley
Dharamsala, October 8: China’s most famous dissident, jailed 54-year-old writer Liu Xiaobo has won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, a move that will infuriate Chinese government.
The Norwegian Peace Prize Committee has said Liu was awarded “for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China”, making him the first Chinese to ever win the prestigious prize.
Many believe the outcome would make history and give a huge boost to democracy advocates inside China, while at the same time enraging Beijing’s authoritarian government.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said last week that awarding Liu the prize would contradict the aims of the award. The director of Norway’s Nobel institute said a senior Chinese official had warned that Sino-Norwegian relations would be damaged if Liu won.
Liu was first jailed for his role in the Tiananmen Square student reform movement. He also served three years in a labour camp in the 90s.
Liu was also the lead author of a document called Charter ’08, calling for democratic reforms in China.
He was detained at his Beijing home in December 2008 after co-authoring the Charter 08 and was sentenced in China last Christmas Day to 11 years in prison for subversion. The severe 11-year sentence shocked many China watchers.
Liu Xiaobo has also been a vocal critic of the Chinese government’s hard-lined policies in Tibet.
He was a key figure behind the “Twelve Suggestions for Dealing with the Tibet Situation,” released in March 2008, in which he and other prominent intellectuals called on the Chinese government to respect the Tibetan people’s right to freely express their views and for China’s leaders “to hold direct dialogue with the Dalai Lama.”
The appeal letter also suggested the Chinese government to invite UN investigators to Tibet to change the international community’s distrust of China and urged the government to give open and fair trial to those arrested during protests in Tibet.
