CHINA BLOCKS NEWS OF NOBEL PRIZE AWARDED TO DISSIDENT

China has imposed a total news blackout on the decision of the Nobel committee to award this year’s Peace Prize to imprisoned pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo. Western news reports said that state-run television made virtually no mention of the award except in isolated cases in which it quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying that the award “profanes the Nobel Peace Prize.” Reuters reported that Chinese censors blocked TV news stories about the award from overseas news broadcasters, including CNN and the BBC. The Christian Science Monitor said that all references to the Nobel prize were deleted from Chinese Internet chatrooms and that state-run mobile phone operators blocked all text messages containing Liu’s name. The CSM quoted fellow democracy advocate Cui Weiping, who teaches at the China Film Academy, as saying that the award demonstrates to the international community that “we are not alone any more. … Our actions are approved and supported by the whole world.”