NOBEL-PEACE/CHINA REAX China says position on Nobel committee unchanged after chairman demoted

Record ID: 350114

  • Title: NOBEL-PEACE/CHINA REAX China says position on Nobel committee unchanged after chairman demoted
  • Date: 4th March 2015
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (MARCH 4, 2015) (REUTERS) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN HUA CHUNYING WALKING IN FOR REGULAR NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS SITTING (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN HUA CHUNYING SAYING: "I also saw the report and I don't understand the exact situation, but in terms of [the issues of] China-Norway relations and the Nobel Peace Pr
  • Embargoed: 19th March 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVACQU5A61X8AY5YAMEWDAC82CU6
  • Story Text: China said its position on the Nobel Peace Prize Committee and China-Norway relations remained unchanged on Wednesday (March 4), a day after the Committee chairman was demoted for the first time in the 114-year history of the award.
    Thorbjoern Jagland, a former Norwegian prime minister of the Labour Party who has chaired the five-member panel since 2009, will now be a mere member of the committee that has received a near-record 276 nominees for the 2015 prize.
    Jagland has been a lightning rod for criticism of awards including to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in 2010. Some experts worry that China might interpret Jagland's removal as a semi-apology for the prize to Liu.
    China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that the demotion would have no impact on China's views on the awarding committee or Sino-Norwegian relations.
    "I also saw the report and I don't understand the exact situation, but in terms of [the issues of] China-Norway relations and the Nobel Peace Prize Committee that you have raised, I can tell you that our views on the judgment standards of the Nobel Prize Committee and our views on China-Norway relations are consistent and are completely unchanged," she said.
    Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg, seeking to limit damage to relations with China, declined to meet Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama when he visited Norway last year.
    Kaci Kullmann Five, a former leader of Norway's ruling Conservative Party, will take over after right-wing parties gained a new representative, giving them a 3-2 majority to make the unprecedented demotion at the first meeting of 2015.
    Right-wing parties, which won a parliamentary election in 2013 to oust a Labour-led government, have long disliked Jagland, who was prime minister from 1996-97.
    No serving chair has ever been ousted since the awards were first made in 1901, even with shifting political majorities, but the committee is appointed in line with the strength of parties in Norway's parliament.
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