The impact of the 2010 Nobel Peace prize on EU-China relations
Press conference
The impact of the 2010 Nobel Peace prize on EU-China relations
Tuesday, 7 December 2010, 11:00 - 11:30
European Parliament
Press Room, PHS 0A50
Speakers:
- Daniel Cohn-Bendit, MEP, Co-President of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament
- Olivier Basille, Reporters without Borders
- Grégoire Théry, FIDH, International Federation for Human Rights
- Vincent Metten, European Director of the 'International Campaign for Tibet'
Three days before the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Liu Xiaobo, the speakers will reiterate their demand for his immediate release and insist that High Representative Catherine Ashton does not yield to pressure from the Chinese government and travels to Oslo on 10 December.
They will ask again of European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, as MEPs from other political groups have also done, that the portraits of Hu Jia, the last Sakharov prize winner in prison, and Liu Xiaobao, are displayed as quickly as possible in front of the European Parliament in Brussels and Strasbourg, as was done for Aung San Suu Kyi
Finally, the speakers will comment on how, in the face of a Chinese diplomatic offensive, the lack of unity among member states regarding the human rights situation in China weakens the EU's capacity to defend its values in the field of human rights.
