New world superpower China tightens its grip on dissidents at home, dignitaries in Norway celebrate this year's winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, imprisoned Chinese activist Liu Xiaobo, with solemn ceremony — and an empty chair.
Liu won't be able to collect the prestigious $1.4 million award at the Oslo ceremony on Friday — the first time in 74 years that it has not been handed over.
Nobel committee secretary Geir Lundestad said Liu will be represented "by an empty chair ... the strongest possible argument" for awarding it to him.
China was infuriated when the prestigious prize was awarded to the 54-year-old literary critic, who is serving an 11-year prison sentence on subversion charges brought after he co-authored a bold call for sweeping changes to Beijing's one-party communist political system.
Beijing described the award as an attack on its political and legal system and has placed Liu's supporters, including his wife Liu Xia, under house arrest to prevent anyone from picking up his prize.
On Friday, uniformed and plainclothes officers guarded the entrance to the compound in central Beijing where Liu Xia has lived since the October announcement that her husband would receive the prize. China also tightened a wide-ranging clampdown on dissidents and blocked some news websites ahead of the awarding ceremony.
China has also pressured foreign diplomats including India to stay away from the Nobel ceremony. China and 17 other countries have declined to attend, including Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba. At least 46 of the 65 countries with embassies in Oslo have accepted invitations. Serbia, which had said it would stay away, announced Thursday that it had changed its mind and would now attend.
Lundestad said countries gave various reasons for not attending, but some were "obviously affected by China."
China warned that attending the ceremony would be seen as a sign of disrespect.
"We hope those countries that have received the invitation can tell right from wrong, uphold justice," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said In Beijing.
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