A slap in the face for China

Coming as it has in the context of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) between the 27 EU nations and 10 Asian states held in Beijing, the Italian daily Corriere della Sera sees the decision to award the [Sakharov] prize to Hu as a provocation for the host. "Human rights were also supposed to be on the agenda ... but everyone looked away, as if they wanted to gloss over the crisis. Awarding the prize to Hu Jia has upset the programme. [This is] Europe's slap in the face for China, particularly since Beijing had already expressed disapproval of the idea of giving the peace prize to the democratic activist. ... However [the Chinese] government spokesperson Liu [Jianchao] is at pains to soothe the tensions ... The global crisis has directed the ASEM's agenda towards addressing the economic situation, and China is pleased that Europe wants to include it in this effort. China prefers summit meetings like that of the [G]20 with [US President George W.] Bush to dealing with human rights issues."

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