Liu gets Nobel Peace,China censors web

This fact alone shows that the award was necessary and appropriate.

Imprisoned in China and with close family members forbidden to leave the country,the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday,an empty chair representing his absence at the prize ceremony here.

Noting Lius absence,the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee,Thorbjorn Jagland,said to a standing ovation,This fact alone shows that the award was necessary and appropriate. It is no coincidence that nearly all the richest countries in the world are democratic,because democracy mobilises new human and technological resources, he said. Chinas new status entails increased responsibility. China must be prepared for criticism,and regard it as a positive,as an opportunity for improvement.

Representatives from the 60-plus diplomatic missions accredited in Oslo normally attend the ceremony. But this year,16 ambassadors,including those from China and Russia,declined to attend,Nobel officials said.

It was the first time in 75 years that no representative of the winner was allowed to make the trip to receive the peace medal,a diploma and the 1.5 million check that comes with it. The last time that happened was in 1935,when Hitler prevented that years winner,Count Carl von Ossietzky,who was imprisoned in a concentration camp,from attending the ceremony,along with anyone else from Germany.

In Beijing,the Chinese authorities continued to pour vitriol on the award while intensifying their crackdown on scores of people they perceive as a threat.

US President Barack Obama,who received the Nobel Peace Prize 2009,regretted that Liu and his wife were denied the opportunity to attend the ceremony in Oslo and called on China to release him. One year ago,I was humbled to receive the Nobel Peace Prize an award that speaks to our highest aspirations,and that has been claimed by giants of history and courageous advocates who have sacrificed for freedom and justice. Liu Xiaobo is far more deserving of this award than I was, Obama said.

The fate of China will be the fate of the world, Jagland said. Norway itself has been punished by China,which recently called the five members of the Nobel committee clowns. Among other things,China has indefinitely suspended bilateral trade talks between the two countries. Liu was detained in December 2008,after co-authoring Charter 08 a call for reform and rights in China.

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In Beijing,Zhang Zuhua,who helped write Charter 08,was forced into a vehicle by police officers,according to rights advocates,and dozens of other people were either confined to their homes or escorted out of the city. Blue construction panels went up in front of Lius apartment building in an apparent attempt to block the sightlines of foreign cameramen. Lius wife,Liu Xia,has been held incommunicado inside her apartment after the award was announced.

On Friday,Global Times,a nationalistic,populist tabloid affiliated with party-owned Peoples Daily,branded the ceremony a political farce. Even as the state media railed against the award,censors scrubbed the Internet of any news stories or comments that could be construed as sympathetic to Liu. Broadcasts by news outlets like CNN and the BBC were blacked out,and their websites were inaccessible.SARAH LYALL amp; ANDREW JACOBS