Oslo: Exiled Chinese dissidents, ambassadors, Norwegian royals and other dignitaries will gather around an empty chair today to hail absent Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo in a ceremony that has enraged Beijing.
"The empty chair for the jailed Chinese dissident is a very strong symbol (that) shows how appropriate this prize was," explained Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland at a press conference on the eve of the ceremony, which kicks off at 1:00 pm (local time) in the Oslo city hall.
The day marks only the second time in the more than 100-year history of the prize that neither the laureate nor a representative will be able to come accept the award.
The only other time was when German journalist and pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, who was locked up in a Nazi concentration camp, could not travel to Oslo for his prize ceremony in 1936.
Like Ossietzky, who was a critic of the regime under which he lived, Liu has long been an outspoken opponent of Chinese leadership in Beijing. The writer and former university professor was at the forefront of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
He was jailed in December 2009 for 11 years on subversion charges after co-authoring 'Charter 08', a manifesto that spread quickly on the Internet calling for political reform and greater rights in China.
"I have long been aware that when an independent intellectual stands up to an autocratic state, step one toward freedom is often a step into prison," Liu said shortly after his sentence was handed down on Christmas Day.
"Now I am taking that step, and true freedom is that much nearer," he added. Beijing was enraged by the Norwegian Nobel Committee's pick this year, which was announced in October.
The Chinese authorities have labelled the laureate a 'criminal' and have placed his wife Liu Xia under house arrest. And the Chinese authorities' fury has mounted in the run-up to today's ceremony, threatening 'consequences' for countries that come out in support of Liu and lambasting the Nobel Committee as "clowns'.
"The Chinese people and the overwhelming majority of countries and people in the world oppose what they do," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing a day before the event.
Nobel Institute director Geir Lundestad meanwhile pointed out yesterday that 45 embassies had accepted invitations to the event, while 19, including China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran, had initially declined.
Yesterday, however, Serbia and Ukraine, under pressure both at home and abroad, reversed their decision to boycott and said they were sending representatives.