China, Russia, 17 others to boycott Nobel Peace Prize event

The representatives of 19 countries, including China and Russia, will boycott the Nobel Peace Prize presentation ceremony, which will take place in Oslo on December 10, 2010.

The representatives of 19 countries, including China and Russia, will boycott the Nobel Peace Prize presentation ceremony, which will take place in Oslo on December 10, 2010. The peace prize was awarded to Chinese dissident and human rights activist Liu Xiaobo for ” prolonged nonviolent fight for the fundamental human rights in China”.

The countries that will boycott the event are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Columbia, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Serbia, Iraq, Iran, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Philippines, Egypt, Sudan, Ukraine, Cuba and Morocco. Several of those countries are trade partners with China and heed Chinese warning of “consequences” if they go. The others are known for their strong anti-West sentiment.

The spokeswoman for Chinese Foreign Ministry, Jiang Yu, expressed gratitude to the countries, that made this decision while โ€œbeing guided by their own persuasions.โ€

” We speak against those, who undertake the attempts to change the domestic policy of China, using Liu Xiaoboโ€™s name. The policy of the country relates to the interests of its people, and we will not step back from it because of the interference from outside, we will continue policy the unity of the country and its development in accordance with the interests of our own of people,โ€ she said, as China unleashed a new barrage deriding the choice of the awardโ€™s recipient. Jiang Yu also accused the Nobel committee of โ€œorchestrating an anti-China farce.โ€

It is not thus far known, ceremony, does take place. Currently Liu Xiaobo is in Chinese prison, and his wife is under house arrest. The former literature teacher, one of the most-read authors in China, Liu Xiaobo took active part in the anti-government protests in Beijing in 1989, and had been under close government surveillance ever since. In 2009 he was sentenced to 11 years in prison, on the drummed-up charges of โ€œalleged agitation activities aimed at subversion of the government and overthrowing of the socialist system.โ€

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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