Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo: Can the West still pressure China on Human Rights violations or has the risk of potentially lost trade deals become too costly?

On Friday the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Norway announced the winner of 2010: Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. The Norweigan committee said Mr Liu was “the foremost symbol” of human rights in China. In 2009 the writer and human rights activist Liu Xiaobo was charged for ”suspicion of inciting subversion of state power” this as he was the founder of the Charter 08 campaign for constitutional reform in China. After a year in detention without trial and a two hour trial where no family or foreign representation was allowed; Liu was found guilty and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

The Nobel Committee’s decision to award the Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo has infuriated China and led to an intense debate in the West where many governments has called for his immediate release. On the streets in China however, the prize is unlikely to cause any debate. Few Chinese people know who he is, that he has won the Prize or why he won the Prize as the Chinese search engine Baidu effectively censor results with his name.

Tags: China, environmental standards, EU, fishery, FTAs, human rights, labour standards, Nobel Peace Prize, Norway, trade & investment, USA, WTO