The Nobel Peace Prize winner, Liu Xiaobo, is one of the many peace prize winners who have been detained or imprisoned while winning the peace prize. Xiaobo has been convicted of subversion against the Chinese government and sent to prison for 11 years. He is the 2010 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his use of nonviolence in his attempts to regain his fundamental human rights.
According to the article, the Chinese government has blacked out all announcements of the winning by this man. The government says that Norway should not have awarded the prize to Xiaobo because of his revolutionary acts against the country. China is threatening to cut ties with Norway.
In my opinion, the press freedom of China is very limited and that China is overreacting in their attempts to cut ties with Norway. It is very apparent that China's press is NOT free. After consulting Freedom House, the website shows that China is labeled as not free for press freedom.
I feel as though Xiaobo earned the prize fairly and accurately represents what Nobel wanted in his will. According to the article, Alfred Nobel left in his will, those who advocate "fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."(yahoo news) Xiaobo was a part of the Tiennamen Square Protests and has been a political advocate of many other things, and seems to be a good candidate to win the prize.
I always knew that China did not have a free press, but what I find interesting is the fact they are threatening to cut ties with Norway over this! That seems a tad extreme to me since Norway was simply following what the founder wanted. Maybe instead China should look within their government and see what they can improve, but we all know that won't happen. Good post!
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