euro|topics - Prize for Chinese dissident

05/07/2009

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Main focus of Friday, October 24, 2008

Prize for Chinese dissident

Despite warnings from Beijing, the European Parliament has awarded the jailed Chinese dissident Hu Jia (35) the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. The critic of the regime had been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison in China for "incitement to subversion of state power". The awarding of the prize has also caused controversy in Europe.

Süddeutsche Zeitung - Germany

The daily Süddeutsche Zeitung praises the decision of the EU Parliament: "According to the European Parliament's statement of reasons, the prize was awarded to encourage the many anonymous defenders of human rights in China. This is an important statement at a time when China seems to be becoming a sort of pet dictatorship for some German intellectuals and politicians. Time and again we heard in the midst of the heated debate that criticism of China's human rights violations would damage German interests or did not take account of China's growing weight in the world. The EU has therefore sent the right signal at the right time. Even an economically successful China should not violate human rights, is the important message here. People like Hu Jia deserve respect, independently of whether China's GDP is growing." (24/10/2008)

Corriere della Sera - Italy

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." (24/10/2008)

Politiken - Denmark

The daily Politiken writes: "By awarding the prize to Hu Jia the EU has emphasised that it is entirely legitimate to criticise the [Chinese] political leadership. This will hopefully remind Beijing of the promise made by the Chinese - and which Hu Jia has pointed to on several occasions - that thanks to the Olympic Games major progress would be made on human rights in China. Unfortunately this has not been the case: There are still countless Chinese in labour camps, every day people are being forced to leave their homes and move elsewhere in the name of modernisation and the death sentence is more common than in any other country in the world. The games did nothing to change all this. By giving the prize to Hu Jia the EU is not only supporting a person in his battle against a brutal system, it is letting the Chinese know that human rights must be taken dead seriously." (24/10/2008)

» To the complete press review of Friday, October 24, 2008

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