Mild-mannered Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, responding to China's belligerent posturing over the Nobel Committee's decision to award the Peace Prize to jailed human rights campaigner Liu Xiaobo:
"We congratulate the award winner. The Committee emphasises the link between development, democracy and human rights... And Norway's position is that the people of China have gone through immense progress - economically, socially, and also politically. But China, being an integrated part of the world community, also has to be ready to engage in debates over civil and political rights, and this is one such contribution. Norway should stand by the integrity of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. It is a proud prize, a proud committee. It has done its work for 110 years, and we should stand up for that right. It is part of an interdependent world that there are independent voices. Norway has to accept those decisions, and China should accept those decisions."
Hear, hear.
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