NOBEL CEREMONY India presence at Oslo weird China Jayanth Jacob
Jayanth Jacob & Reshma Patil letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI/BEIJING :
As India went ahead with attending the ceremony to award Nobel peace price to Liu Xiaobo in Oslo on Friday, resisting last minute efforts from Beijing, an irate China said it was “unfortunate“ and “weird“ that India joined “China-bashing chorus.“
With Premier Wen Jiabao slated to visit to India from December 15-17, officials here have been maintaining that that the Oslo ceremony is not a “bilateral one“ and India attending a multilateral event should cause no concern to China.
“I merely regard this vicious handout of prize an allied efforts to demonise China, unfortunately India joined the China bashing chorus, its weird for a former colonized country to do so, I see nothing independent (in it)“, a Chinese diplomat told Hindustan Times.
The diplomat said “hundred years ago we were a silent lamb suffering from foreign domination and humiliation, but today we can proudly hold high our heads“.
And Beijing didn't take kindly India's decision to join the ceremony to award “dissident“ Liu Xiaobo with Nobel peace prize. Indian ambassador to Oslo, Bambit Roy attended the ceremony, which Indian officials described as “a courtesy that has no bilateral implications.“
Sources said despite the demarches in November as well as in first week of December urging India not to attend, “China kept piling pressure on“ till the last moment and they expect Beijing taking up the issue again.
“Our just position has won the understanding and support of over 100 countries and major organisations. Facts have fully shown that the decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee does not represent the wish of the majority of the people in the world, particularly that of the developing countries“, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
