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Liu Xia, the wife of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, holds a photo of Liu Xiaobo during an interview in Beijing October 3, 2010. Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo is tipped to win the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, according to a leading bookmaker, as the Nobel Committee seeks to restore its authority after criticism of the 2009 pick of President Barack Obama.
Credit: Reuters/Petar Kujundzic
By Wojciech Moskwa
OSLO |
Wed Oct 6, 2010 12:29pm EDT
OSLO (Reuters) - A Chinese dissident and an Afghan women's campaigner lead candidates for the 2010 Nobel Peace prize as the Nobel Committee seeks a more traditional candidate after criticism of the 2009 choice of President Barack Obama.
The row triggered by the Norwegian Nobel Committee's award to Obama less than nine months into his term is likely to push the secretive panel to select a laureate with a longer record of accomplishment this year, Nobel watchers said.
"They may instinctively opt for someone more traditional, with a strong track record in human rights or peace-making," said Kristian Berg Harpviken, head of the PRIO peace think-tank.
The Nobel watchers said last year's decision to give the award to Obama drew more criticism than the Nobel Committee expected, which could favor a "safer" choice in 2010.
Harpviken's pick is Sima Samar, an Afghan doctor and women's rights activist who chairs a human rights committee in her war-torn country and who has also led rights efforts in Sudan.
Analysts say picking Samar would be a safer choice and shine the Nobel's light on the issue of treatment of women in Afghanistan and in the Muslim world. It would also boost her credentials in influencing Afghan policy.
Another leading candidate is Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese literature professor serving an 11-year jail term for seeking democratic reform in China.
Awarding Liu the prize would focus attention on China's human rights record at a time when Beijing seeks to play a bigger role on the global stage.
Liu is behind bars for "inciting subversion of state power" by signing a 2008 manifesto calling for talks on multi-party democracy in China. He was endorsed by former Czech dissident Vaclav Havel and is a runaway favorite among bookmakers.
CHINA WARNED NORWAY
China has warned Norway that bilateral ties would be at risk and it had strongly criticized Oslo after the 1989 prize went to Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
Some analysts said giving the prize to Liu would also open the five-member Nobel Committee to criticism for straying too far from Alfred Nobel's intended focus on peace and disarmament.
"The committee is under very considerable pressure from many sources," said Jan Egeland, head of the NUPI foreign relations institute in Oslo. "Many argue that this is not a prize for human rights or freedom of expression but for peace."
The Swedish dynamite inventor's 1895 will specifies the peace prize should be given "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses."
But over time the definition of peace has been stretched to include human rights and in the past decade the environment.
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See All Comments (1) | Post Comment
Oct 06, 2010 4:34pm EDT
China should develop more confidence in its own reputation and leadership.
With its current economic achievement, the government can potentially win a democratic election in China. Allowing free criticism by freedom of speech activists may not result in instability like the Chinese government feared.
For example, one of the prominent criticisms by Liu in the article that landed him in the most recent jail term was comparing the quality of the schools that collapsed in Szechuan earthquake to “tofu dregs”. However, after the world witnessed the collapse of the Governor’s Building in Haiti under an earthquake that was roughly 10 times less strong that the Chinese quake, the criticisms have been muted quite a bit spontaneously without censorship. Nobody believes that all criticisms represent the entire story.
China should realize that censorship suppresses both sides of the argument, including arguments that praise or acknowledge their government’s achievement.
Perhaps a happier medium can be struck somewhere between the American and the Chinese system. Americans want tort reform, so that less resources and money are wasted on malicious prosecution or trivial lawsuits. The Chinese people want and deserve more avenues to voice their grievances.
By putting pressure on Sweden, the Chinese Government gives an impression that it does not have the confidence to win a fair and open debate with Liu.
Janeallen
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