Chinese Nobel winner dodges call for laureate's freedom

A flustered Mo Yan, the Chinese winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature, steered clear of human rights issues and refused on Thursday to back a petition by fellow laureates for jailed compatriot and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.

A group of 134 Nobel laureates including the Dalai Lama, wrote to Chinese Communist Party chief and president-in-waiting Xi Jinping urging him to release Liu, who won the prize two years ago. They also want Xi to free Liu's wife.

The case has drawn attention to China's human rights record, although China says Liu is a criminal and decries such criticism as unwarranted interference in its internal affairs.

Mo, the first Chinese national to win the $1.2 million literature prize who was in Stockholm to receive the award, refused to express support for Liu, and sometimes appeared agitated after repeated questions over Liu at a news conference.

The writer also defended censorship as sometimes necessary, comparing it to security checks at airports.

"I have already issued my opinion about this matter (over Liu)," he told journalists in Stockholm through a translator, days ahead of the formal award ceremony.

In October, after the award announcement, Mo said he hoped that Liu would achieve his freedom as soon as possible.

"I have said this prize is about literature. Not for politics," said the 57-year-old whose adopted pen name Mo Yan means "don't speak".

WORLD ATTENTION

Despite world attention on days of Nobel prize events in Stockholm, Mo shunned any chance of making a clear call for Liu's freedom.

"I am sure you know what I said that day (in October). Why do you want to repeat that? Time is precious," he said when pressed over Liu.

"I have never praised a system of censorship, but also censorship exists in every country," he added. "There is only a difference of a degree of censorship."

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