At least 19 countries will be absent from today's ceremony awarding the Nobel Peace

At least 19 countries will be absent from today's ceremony awarding the Nobel Peace Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo following his government's campaign to present the award as a Western effort to undermine his authority.

Those absent included the countries with elected governments such as Cuba and Saudi Arabia, China and Vietnam, Kazakhstan neighbors and U.S. allies Colombia and Egypt. His decision to skip the ceremony in Oslo, is presented as a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, Jiang Yu, mocked the award as a "sham" given by "clowns" in comments to reporters in Beijing on 7 December.

"Mr. Liu Xiaobo is much more deserving of this award than me," President Barack Obama said in a statement emailed to reporters. "I regret that Mr. Liu and his wife were denied the opportunity to attend the ceremony that Michelle and I attended last year."

"We respect the extraordinary achievement of China in lifting millions out of poverty, and we believe that human rights are the dignity that comes with freedom from want," said Obama. "But Mr. Liu reminds us that human dignity is also dependent on the progress of democracy, open society and the rule of law."

No show

The list does not appear, double the number from two years ago, reflects the growing global influence of China as an economic power expands, said Iver B. Neumann, Director of Research at the headquarters in Oslo, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.

"China is the emerging power of the century," Neumann said in an interview on 8 December. "This seems to be one of the central dramas of world politics today. The argument will not fly again."

At the same time, the award has focused attention on China's treatment of political dissidents that the country expands its economic dominance. The Chinese authorities do not allow Liu to attend the ceremony and placed his wife under house arrest after three days, the prize was announced. The Committee of 08 October, said he deserved the prize "for his long struggle and nonviolent fundamental human rights in China."

China overtook Japan this year to become the second largest economy, and grow by 10 percent in 2010 and 2011, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report of 18 November.

Interruption

People's Daily, which reflects the views of the ruling Communist Party of China, said in a comment of 05 November that the award of the prize to Liu was a deliberate attempt to undermine the government of China.

"It is clear that the West does not want a strong China," the paper said. The award "explicitly reveals the attempts by Western countries to back the anti-socialist forces and use them to disrupt the development of China."

The newspaper stayed at the attack today, saying in a comment that the Committee for the Nobel Peace Prize is facing an "unprecedented shame." TV channels and websites of CNN and the BBC intermittently collapsed in China before today's ceremony.

The prize is not directed against China, the Nobel committee chairman, Thorbjoern Jagland, said in a press conference yesterday. "It's an award to honor those people in China - and Liu Xiaobo is one of the most prominent -. That is clearly understood that economic development in China should be combined with political reforms"

Empty chair

The empty chair in the award ceremony this year underscores the importance of the choice of the committee, according to Geir Lundestad, director of the Nobel Institute, which organizes the event. He says that countries are increasingly reluctant to distance themselves from the policies of China because of its political and economic influence.

"China is increasingly important in international politics, and fewer and fewer are willing to criticize parts of the country's policies that deserve criticism," said Lundestad Dec. 8 in an opinion article in the newspaper Headquartered in Oslo Aftenposten.

That may be to strengthen China's determination to establish its own agenda and do not tolerate international interference, according to Bates Gill, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

"The political environment in China today seems to require today and allow this type of offense very, very strong reaction to the perceived interests of China," Gill said in an interview. "It is extremely unfortunate that the Chinese government has reacted so strongly as it did. I feel it is an overreaction."

Liu Custody

Liu was arrested in December 2008 for his role in the organization Charter 08, an open letter signed by more than 300 Chinese scholars and activists demand lawyers for direct elections and freedom of assembly. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison at Christmas last year.

Obama on Oct. 8 called on China to release Liu and said the peace prize selection reminds us that political reform has not kept pace "with the economic developments in China.

China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Argentina, Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Cuba and Morocco will not attend the ceremony, the Nobel committee said yesterday. The Philippines also will be out, because the ambassador has "previously held the consulate in Denmark," said Ed Malaya, a spokesman for the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs today. Forty-five countries expected to attend.

In 2008, when former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari received the award, 10 embassies were not represented.

The absence of Liu

Liu's absence will be marked in the Oslo City Hall with an empty chair on the podium and Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann to read his writings, according to the agenda of the ceremony. A torchlight procession at night through the streets of the Norwegian capital will end at the Grand Hotel, where the winner traditionally greets the crowd from the balcony of the creation of 136 years. This year, Liu's image projected on the facade of the hotel.

There are two events scheduled today in Oslo, one in support of the award and a protest against the award, according to the Oslo police and the news agency NTB. Amnesty International in Norway yesterday delivered 100,000 signatures to the embassy of China calling for Liu's release from prison.

U.S. not try to influence countries that have decided not to attend, State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, said on 8 December. While allies such as Afghanistan will not be present, Crowley said there was broad support for the election of the committee.

"We will be there Friday to see this recognition, and we know that we will not be alone," he said.

Wrong

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Jiang said that any effort to force China to change its treatment of political prisoners is wrong.

"Some people think they can use the practices of the Cold War to put pressure on China and therefore the change of China," Jiang said. "I think it is too naive."

A group based in Beijing this week announced the Peace Prize Confucius as an alternative to the Norwegian Nobel and awarded to former Taiwanese Vice President Lien Chan. A spokesman for Lien said he had not been notified and did not attend the ceremony yesterday in Beijing. A girl of six years old, accepted the award on behalf of Lien, the South China Morning Post said today.

Test of loyalties

China is using the boycott, in part, to test the loyalty of his allies, "said Elizabeth Economy, director of Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Domestic politics plays a role, he said.

"If you do this to be an argument against China by the West, is something people understand," he said.

Liu absence tomorrow will mark the fifth time in 109 years of history of the award a prize winner for peace could not attend for political reasons, according to Lundestad.

The other four were German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky in 1935, the Soviet dissident nuclear physicist Andrei Sakharov in 1975, Polish Solidarity Lech Walesa, founder in 1983 and Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 1991. With the exception of Ossietzky, the winners were represented by family members at the awards ceremony.