A show for human rights

The Nobel Peace Prize for Chinese civil rights activist Liu Xiaobo is provoking harsh reactions from the Beijing regime but won't change a thing, writes the liberal conservative daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung: "It may soothe bad consciences to give the Nobel Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident, but it won't have any effect on the political subservience practiced by the Western states towards the rulers of the great economic power China. … Putting the spotlight on the Chinese regime by awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident will only toughen Beijing's stance. And because many Western states have kowtowed to China again and again the signal from Oslo only lays bare their hypocrisy. Clear political positions regarding China are urgently needed - however not through the awarding of a prize but in often unspectacular everyday politics and even when one's own interests may be affected. China will hardly listen now that it's in the pillory."

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