China and the Peace Price

The capitalist dictatorship of China - after a long period of dithering marked by mandatory silence over the Tienanmen massacres (but not defence of its own behavior in 1989) - has launched its new line. China's communist government is now to be regarded as respectful of human rights and peace. The so-called "Confucian prize of peace" marks its conversion to such ideals. Let us hope that this new course can meander its way to a more genuine respect for the aspirations of Alfred Nobel and the prize that the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded to the imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xaobo for 2010. Before China this year, no government since that of Alfred Hitler has deigned to put pressure on the Nobel Committee for the Peace Prize - and on the Norwegian government hosting this independent body - to cease its work for freedom and peace.