China Condems Peace Prize award to Liu Xiaobo as 'obscene'

Beijing - China has condemned in the strongest terms the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo, saying that it went against the aims of the award and would harm the country's relations with Norway.

Media 24 and The Sun Daily report China calling the award "obscene". "The awarding of the peace prize by the committee to this person completely contradicts its aims and is an obscenity against the peace prize," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement on the ministry's website. Sky News report the foreign ministry as saying: "The Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded to those who work to promote ethnic harmony, international friendship, disarmament and who hold peace meetings. "Liu Xiaobo was found guilty of violating Chinese law and sentenced to prison by Chinese judicial organs. "His actions run contrary to the purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize. By awarding the prize to this person, the Nobel committee has violated and blasphemed the award." Ma did not alaborate on his statement about the harmful effects of bilateral relations between China and Norway, but Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere was reported earlier as saying that "the award should not cause a hostile Chinese reaction, emphasising that the Norwegian Nobel Committee was independent of the Norwegian government." Various reports, say Beijing residents were complaining about TV signals being cut on foreign news broadcasts when the story was mentioned. Also see earlier Digital Journal reports and background to the award here and here .