18 countries, including China, boycott Nobel Prize ceremony

Several governments have declined invitations to attend Friday’s ceremony to award imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo the Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Commission said Tuesday.Several governments have declined invitations to attend Friday’s ceremony to award imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo the Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Commission said Tuesday.

The committee said China and 18 other countries have decided not to be represented for various reasons. It noted that number has tripled from six weeks ago. The countries joining China in its boycott include Russia, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, Tunisia, Iraq, Iran, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Pakistan, Egypt, Morocco and the Philippines. The 58 countries who have embassies in Oslo were invited to attend. China strongly objected to Liu’s win last October and levelled more criticism Tuesday, calling members of the Nobel committee clowns who are interfering in China’s judicial affairs.

The 54-year-old writer and academic was jailed in December 2009 to serve an 11-year term for subversion. He was detained just days before the publication of what has turned out to be an explosive political document, Charter 8, which he co-wrote. Charter 08 calls for an end to one-party rule and the introduction of democratic reforms in China. It was signed, via the internet, by thousands of people, some of them Communist Party officials. No one is expected to be on hand to accept the award on behalf on Liu. Geir Lundestad, the committee’s secretary, said there will be an empty chair and a portrait of Liu on the podium during the ceremony in Oslo.

China condemns Nobel Peace Prize to jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo

China has condemned the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. Beijing has summoned the Norwegian ambassador in protest and warned that it could damage relations with Norway.
China called Mr. Liu a criminal, saying the award violated Nobel principles. The Norwegian Nobel committee said Mr Liu was the foremost symbol of the struggle for human rights in China.
On the other hand, the last year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner and US President, Barack Obama in a statement called on the Chinese government to release Mr Liu as soon as possible.
Over the last 30 years, China has made dramatic progress in economic reform and improving the lives of its people, lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty he said. But this award reminds us that political reform has not kept pace, and that the basic human rights of every man, woman and child must be respected.
Other Western countries have also urged China to release Mr Liu.

Mr Liu, 54, was a key leader in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Last year he received an 11-year sentence for inciting subversion after drafting Charter 08 – which called for multi-party democracy and respect for human rights in China.

Obama Receives Nobel Peace Prize

OSLO: President Obama, who earlier arrived in Norway with his wife Michelle, also defended the US record in Afghanistan and his planned surge of 30,000 military personnel as motivated by his desire to bring peace to the war-torn country.

In his acceptance speech, he hit back at critics of his plan to begin withdrawing US soldiers from Afghanistan in mid-2011, saying he was “unambiguous” about the date and would debate it no further.

But he struck a modest note when he said others may be “more deserving” of the prestigious prize this year.

Shortly before his own investiture as a Nobel laureate, Obama marvelled at the “galvanising” impact of the US civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

President Obama and wife went directly to the Norwegian Nobel Institute to sign the guest book after flying into tightly secured Oslo for a day of events marking the first-year US president’s surprise Nobel prize.

“Michelle and I were commenting on the fact that when Dr King won his prize it had a galvanising effect around the world, but also lifted his stature in the United States in a way that allowed him to be more effective,” US President said.

He said he was honoured to receive the peace prize, and had paid tribute to the work of the Nobel committee in the guest book.

“I think it’s important to congratulate the Nobel Committee for the work that it’s done over the course of history to highlight the cause of peace, but also to give voice to the voiceless and the oppressed around the world.”

Martin Luther King won the Nobel peace prize in 1964. Obama has often said that he owes part of his success in becoming the first black US president to the legacy of the civil rights leader.

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Obama Receives Nobel Peace Prize was first posted on December 10, 2009 at 4:49 pm.

Why Did Obama Win The Nobel Peace Prize

President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. Obama’s name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president.

“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future,” the committee said. “His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.”

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Why Did Obama Win The Nobel Peace Prize was first posted on October 10, 2009 at 5:40 pm.