By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
BEIJING, China – Two Chinese dissidents, Gao Zhisheng and Hu Jia, are top candidates of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo’s International Peace Research Institute’s decision to honor Hu or Gao may increase tensions between the West and China.
China’s foreign ministry suggested Tuesday that it hopes Chinese human rights activists will not win this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. “For the past few years we see that many people in the world have dedicated themselves to world peace and scientific and human progress and have been properly awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize,” he said. “However,” Qin added, “some of the prizes went against Mr. Nobel’s initial purpose. We hope the Nobel Prize should be awarded to the right people.” The award went to the Dalai Lama 19 years ago, against strong objections from Beijing.
Gao, born in 1964, is a lawyer who has protested the treatment of members of the Falun Gong movement. Hu, 35, has been outspoken on environmental and AIDS matters and more recently has criticized the treatment of Gao.
They were both arrested and jailed before the Beijing Olympics to keep them out of the public eye. Gao was arrested in August 2006, convicted in a one-day trial and placed under house arrest. He was convicted because of nine articles posted on foreign Web sites, state media reported at the time. Gao has been beaten, harassed and given a suspended jail sentence in the last few years. He was also reportedly targeted by an assassination attempt. Hu was convicted last April of inciting subversion, and is now serving a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence. Hu’s wife has been placed under house arrest.
Peace researcher Stein Toennesson, director of the Peace Research Institute in Oslo, Norway, said the prize committee might pick a Chinese activist “in view of the fact that the Olympic Games did not bring the improvement many had hoped for, but instead led to a number of strict security measures.” According to a BBC Asia analyst, Andre Vornic, the Nobel committee is unlikely to be swayed by crude pressure, he says. If anything, a perception of bullying could further stack the odds in favor of China’s jailed dissidents.
For more information, please see:
AP – China suggests Nobel should not go to activist – 07 October 2008
BBC – China makes Nobel prize warning – 07 October 2008
Bloomberg – Nobel Peace Prize May Go to Chinese Activist, Angering Beijing – 06 October 2008
Voice of America – China Warns Against Awarding Nobel Prize to Dissident – 07 October 2008
