China's Nobel Ceremony Loyalty Test Posted by David Shorr

A good post from Mark Lagon on China's reaction to the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to dissident Liu Xiaobo, and particularly what it means for China's international image. As Mark notes, there was a lot of potent symbolism in Oslo in terms of who was absent from today's award ceremony.

The ceremony was noteworthy for its empty seats, especially those for Liu himself or any relative to be permitted by the winner's country to travel to Oslo to receive the award (the first time since Nazi Germany prevented a dissident from attending to receive his prize in 1936).

Symbolism matters in the responses of other world leaders too. So the empty seats at today's ceremony, reportedly including those of representatives from U.S. allies Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, as well as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, speak volumes.

What Lagon alludes to is the diplomatic full-court press Beijing mounted in an attempt to persuade other governments to boycott the ceremony. It's worth emphasizing how this international bullying compounds the prior infractions of Liu's imprisonment and the travel ban on his family. Chinese leaders have only underscored rather than reduced their legitimacy problem.

In fact, I'd say there's an axiom of international legitimacy in this episode. When a powerful nation appeals for support on the basis of testing others' loyalty, it has already conceded the weakness of its case. If your argument is that you're verifying who are your real friends, you're only telegraphing that in the court of world opinion, your influence is made of very brittle stuff.

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