Rights champions expect Nobel to spur Chinese democracy (News Feature)

By Bill Smith Dec 9, 2010, 11:42 GMT

Beijing - Fellow dissidents and supporters of jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo have hailed the award as a likely spur to the democracy movement in China.

'We consider this award is given to Liu Xiaobo to recognize his bravery and endeavour,' said Wu'er Kaixi, an exiled former student leader of China's 1989 democracy protests. 'At the same time, it is also an award that is given to all the Chinese who are in this struggle.'

'That is also recognizing our efforts and reminding the world of our unfinished business [from 1989],' Taiwan-based Wu'er Kaixi said by telephone.

Wu'er Kaixi is among at least 40 exiled Chinese dissidents who plan to attend Friday's award ceremony in Oslo for Liu, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for co-organizing the Charter '08 for diplomatic reform.

'December 10, 2010, is the day for Liu Xiaobo and all dissidents in China,' said US-based Yang Jianli, a friend of Liu and the organizer of Chinese dissident activities in Oslo for the award ceremony.

'Why will the Chinese government let an empty seat in the Nobel hall ruin its image of 'reform' and 'opening-up,' which took 30 years to establish?' Yang said in a recent statement.

Yang said the award was 'a signal from the international community calling for positive change in China,' adding that Liu's 'Nobel glory will play an important role in China's future.'

Another exiled dissident, Harry Wu, the founder of the US-based Laogai Research Foundation, said he would attend the Nobel ceremony 'to uphold the dignity and honour of all Chinese people.'

'I will attend for those who cannot,' said Wu, who left China for the United States following his release in 1979 after 19 years in labour camps and prisons.

'The awarding of the Nobel prize has heartened and encouraged Liu's fellow dissidents, and all of us who are fighting for a free and democratic China,' he said in a statement.

'The Nobel prize represents a nod to a more optimistic future for China, one free from the tyranny and authoritarianism that has characterized the last 60 years of Chinese Communist Party rule,' Wu said.

Charter '08 was modelled on the Charter '77 that Czechoslovakian dissidents signed to protest that country's then-Communist government.

Former Czech president Vaclav Havel, a signatory of Charter '77, has been one of Liu's staunchest supporters since Liu's arrest in December 2008, two days before the release of Charter '08.

In an interview this week with Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, Havel said it was 'hard to estimate' the impact of the award on China's democracy movement.

'But I know for certain that it will be a boost to all those calling for adherence to the [Chinese] constitution and respect for fundamental human and civil rights,' he said.

'It will not be easy now for the Chinese government to convince the public about its country's historic ambitions and demand international respect when it imprisons the holder of a prestigious international prize,' he said.

China has kept most dissidents and rights activists under house arrest or close surveillance since the prize was announced October 8.

But some dissidents have managed to issue statements on the internet or via rights groups.

'I think it is the most important thing in the recent 20 years and also an event that makes us the happiest since the Tiananmen incident in 1989,' dissident writer Yu Jie said in a telephone interview shortly before authorities cut off his two phone numbers.

Yu referred to the deadly military crackdown to end democracy protests in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 3-4, 1989.

'Through the Nobel Peace Prize, China at last has a symbolic figure like [Nelson] Mandela in South Africa, like Havel,' said Yu, a Charter '08 signatory who has been under house arrest in Beijing since October 15.

Another Charter '08 signatory, rights lawyer Teng Biao, said the prize would 'accelerate the process of bringing peace to China.'

'All of the Chinese who possess this intuitive awareness thank Liu Xiaobo from the bottom of their heart,' Teng said in a statement published Wednesday by Paris-based Reporters Without Borders.

'Encouraging the non-violent pursuit of justice is always the right thing to do,' Chang Ping, an outspoken journalist and media freedom activist, told the group.

'The Chinese don't need people teaching them democracy, but they need to be encouraged and supported,' Chang said.

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