China intensifies anti-Nobel rhetoric

A respected university professor and accomplished literary critic, Liu Xiaobo has been for many years a prominent member of the democratic reform movement in China. Last year, he was sentenced to eleven years in prison, after a criminal court found that his promotion of free speech and calls for an end to the Chinese Communist monopoly on political power, amounted to subversion. China’s communist government in Beijing decried the Nobel Committee's decision to award the 2010 Peace Prize to a man it considers a subversive and a criminal.

Now, the row with the Nobel Committee has spilled over into wider diplomacy, with China criticising Western nations for trying to force their ideas onto China.

On Thursday, the Nobel Committee issued a statement saying human rights are basic and universal.

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton praised the Nobel Committee’s decision, saying, "We continue to encourage the Chinese to open up their own political space for greater exchange of opinions and advocacy of ideas." The Nobel committee has decided to represent the laureate with an empty chair during the ceremony.

It will be the first time that a laureate under detention has not been formally represented since Nazi Germany barred pacifist Carl von Ossietzky from attending in 1935.
Listen to Chris Altieri's report: