Support for Nobel Peace Prize winner

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Jailed Chinese writer and civil rights activist Liu Xiaobo has been awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. China’s government is not pleased. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Chinese novelist, Diane Wei-Liang, about what she thinks has inspired this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner to challenge the Chinese government’s human rights record. The novelist herself is a veteran of the pro-democracy movement in China.

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MARCO WERMAN: Chinese novelist, Diane Wei-Liang has something in common with this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner. She herself is a veteran of China’s pro-democracy movement. And like Liu Xiaobo, she took part in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Diane Wei-Liang now lives in London. She worries that the award will make life harder for Mr. Liu.

DIANE WEI-LIANG:  He probably won’t receive even harsher treatment from the government, but on the other hand, in the long run I think this award should open the debate in China about political reform and freedom of speech, which [INDISCERNIBLE] desperately needed.

MULLINS:  It sounds like you’ve got mixed reactions about him getting the Nobel Peace Prize.

WEI-LIANG: In some ways this is a dilemma for human rights organizations around the world. However, one cannot stand around doing nothing. It’s a difficult call, but I think the prize today has signaled the willingness of the international community to address this issue and to also urge China to address this issue.

MULLINS: You indicated your concerns that Liu might suffer some negative repercussions as a result of receiving this Peace Prize. Can you be more specific about those concerns? Are you worried that he might get his jail time extended?

WEI-LIANG: That’s a possibility. Although he has been sentenced in the court of law to eleven years. If you look at the response from the Chinese government, the response to the prize has been strong and negative. And I think that that would be the stand that the government will talk and they will want to show their determination in pursuing this case from their point of view.

MULLINS: As you say, the world has to say something and the award is one way to put pressure on China to do more to improve human rights there. What do you think are some other strategies that human rights activists might think about?

WEI-LIANG: Speaking from personal experience as a novelist, to promote the writing of writers whose lives are in danger in their own country is a great way of promoting their freedom. If they could gain international attention for their writing and they will be protected because of that. And Mr. Liu Xiaobo himself is a writer.

MULLINS: The Nobel Peace Prize is such a part of our culture in the West. What does it mean in China? Does it mean anything?

WEI-LIANG: Absolutely. And in fact there are two Chinese citizens have won. Nobel Prize is, one is for literature and now for the Peace Prize. And I think it means a great deal to the Chinese and I think this prize today means a lot to Mr. Liu Xiaobo and the ideals that he represents.

MULLINS:  I’m curious to know what your first reaction was when you heard the news that Liu won the Nobel Peace Prize.

WEI-LIANG: I thought it was just fantastic. I thought it was a great prize to be given out to not only Mr. Liu himself, but to that group of voice within China that is not being heard. It’s a great recognition for their work.

MULLINS: Liu Xiaobo is one of China’s most high-profile dissidents. How would you rank this event of him being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in terms of significance in the opening up of human rights in China?

WEI-LIANG: I think it’s symbolic. It brings the issue forward and to the front. Particularly at a time China’s economic development is getting a lot of attention from the rest of the world. And in that sense it’s very, very significant.

MULLINS: Novelist Diane Wei-Liang. Her memoir about life growing up in China during the Cultural Revolution and her participation in the Tiananmen Square protests is called Lake With No Name. She joined us from London. Thank you very much Diane.

WEI-LIANG: My pleasure.

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