Peace prize should be for peace: professor
It is a big mistake to grant this year's Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo as the Chinese receiver made no contribution to peace or conflict reduction, a Norwegian professor said Tuesday.
"Liu Xiaobo has, as far as I know, never contributed in any conflict-reducing activity or take part in peace-related activities," Professor Arnulf Kolstad of Norwegian University of Science and Technology told Xinhua.
"I therefore cannot see that the peace prize winner fulfills the most important criteria in Nobel's testament. Therefore it is a mistake," added the professor of social psychology and China expert.
His idea reflected criticism of the Nobel Committee's decision, as Liu is a convicted criminal of agitation aimed at subverting the government who was sentenced to 11 years in jail in late 2009.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday blasted the awarding as showing "no respect for China's judicial system," saying that Beijing questions the "true intention" behind the selection.
The Nobel Committee "wants to promote Western values all over the world even if the way it is done is not very relevant and even contradictory to the purpose," said Kolstad.
The professor explicitly rejected the Norwegian body's argument that Liu's struggle for human rights, especially the freedom of speech, and a Western parliamentary democratic system in China is a prerequisite to world peace.
Many countries that have long followed the Western political system, such as the United States, Britain and Norway, have been among the most aggressive military powers in the last 50 years, occupying and starting wars in others countries like Iraq and Afghanistan, he noted.
