China asks Japan not to attend Nobel peace award

Thursday, November 09, 2010

Reuters
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Police officers try to prevent a demonstration by Reporters without Borders members, as the car of Chinese President Hu Jintao passes, on the Champs Elysee in Paris, Friday Nov. 5, 2010. Hu Jintao is on a three-day state visit in France. Signs read: Free Tibet, and Free Liu Xiaobo. who is a Chinese dissident awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

Tokyo-- China has asked Japan not to attend a Nobel Peace Prize ceremony honouring Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, Japan’s foreign minister said, in a move that could further strain Sino-Japanese ties after a recent territorial row.

Beijing has already warned European nations that supporting the jailed Chinese democracy activist would be seen as an affront to China’s legal system. Diplomatic sources said China had sent letters to ambassadors in Oslo discouraging them from showing up at the 10 December ceremony.

Relations between Asia’s two largest economies deteriorated in September with the detention of a Chinese fishing boat captain by the Japanese coast guard after their boats collided near islands in the East China Sea that both sides claim.

“It is true that there were requests through diplomatic routes in Tokyo and Norway that no one related to the Japanese government attend the Nobel Peace Prize Award ceremony,” Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara told parliament on Tuesday.

“We aim to reach a sound decision regarding the attendance of our ambassador to Norway.”

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who has seen support for his government tumble due in part to voter dissatisfaction with its handling of the territorial dispute, said he had asked Maehara to examine the issue of attending the ceremony.

Kan reiterated, however, that he believed it was desirable for Liu to be released.

Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, in Japan for a visit that will likely overlap with Chinese leader Hu Jintao’s attendance at a regional summit in Japan this week, repeated on Saturday his support for Liu.

“In his movement, (Liu is) not toppling the government, but trying to bring more openness, more accountability,” the Dalai Lama told reporters in Narita, near Tokyo.

“China remaining a secretive society is very very harmful for making significantcontributions regarding world affairs … China, sooner or later, you have to open, it’s the only way,” he said.

Liu is serving an 11-year jail term on subversion charges for his role in advocating democracy and multi-party rule.

There has been speculation over whether China’s Hu will formally meet the Japanese prime minister at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) summit in Yokohama, after Kan had to settle for brief informal chats with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on two previous occasions.