Human rights factors behind Liu's Nobel prize: Maehara-Sun Oct 10 2010,

Posted: Sun Oct 10 2010, 12:00 hrs
Tokyo

Maehara said human rights need to be protected.Freelance Jobs Discount Shopping China Wholesale Wholesale Discussion

Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said the selection of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo for the Nobel Peace Prize was driven by a belief that human rights should be protected in every country.



"The prize was awarded in line with a view that it is essential to build a society where universal values for mankind -- freedom and fundamental human rights – are protected," Maehara told reporters during his visit to Naoshima, Kagawa Prefecture on Saturday.



Liu, the first Chinese to win the prestigious prize, is a key author of Charter 08, a democratic manifesto that called for sweeping political change in China. He is currently serving an 11-year prison term for "inciting subversion of state power."



Liu has been detained repeatedly by Chinese authorities over his two decades of activism, including involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests.

The awarding of the prize to the 54-year-old democracy activist has not sat well with the Chinese government, which called Liu "a criminal" sentenced to imprisonment for violating Chinese laws.



"His actions have gone against the purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in Beijing.