100 nations,organisations back our Nobel stand,claims Chinese media

India was among 46 nations,including the US,the UK and France which attended the ceremony to honour 55-year-old Liu,who has long been an outspoken opponent of the Chinese leadership.

In a candid editorial titled Ignoble ignorance,the daily,however,said,True,the state of human rights here is not as good as we want it to be,but it is not as bad as those on the Norwegian Nobel Committee think. We aspire for development and hate corruption. We cry out against abusive officials. We readily blame those problems on the Party and the government. But,by and large,we share the faith that we can sort all our problems ourselves.

An article titled Peace prize a political farce, in the daily,said,Over 100 media organisations from more than 50 countries,including some from Norway,have published articles to express different opinions. This shows that deception and lies cannot blind peoples eyes. It must come as an even bigger surprise to them that,despite their attempts of deception,blackmail and threat,over 100 countries and major international organisations have supported Chinas position, it said.

However,some of the Chinese human rights activists said the crackdown on Lius supporters and blackout of the international media will backfire on China.

Chen Ziming,a leading intellectual imprisoned after the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989,said: Its a great pity that neither Liu Xia (Lius wife,who was kept in house detention in Beijing) nor their family members were allowed to attend such a meaningful ceremony,which has become a democratic,enlightening,educational lesson for all Chinese citizens as well as a good opportunity to stimulate the authorities to reflect on what (the government) has done to our countrys democratic development.

Lius dissident friend Liu Feiyue,who runs a one-man rights advocacy office in Beijing,said the jailed democracy activist would have been weeping tears of joy if he knew the Nobel committee had arranged an empty chair for him at the awards.

Meanwhile,China repeated its claim Saturday that the world is meddling in its affairs after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in absentia to imprisoned democracy activist Liu Xiaobo. The ceremony was censored in China,which has seen a clampdown on dissidents and some news websites blocked in recent days.

We oppose anyone making an issue of this matter,and oppose anyone interfering in Chinas internal affairs in any way, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement posted early Saturday on the ministrys website.