Subject: China dimisses idea of Nobel Peace Prize for dissident (fwd)
BEIJING, Oct 7 (AFP) - The Chinese government said Tuesday it would be "unthinkable" for the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded to Wei Jingsheng, the country's best known dissident.
"Wei Jingsheng broke the Chinese law. His case is up to the justice ministry," said foreign ministry spokesman Shen Guofang.
"If the Nobel Peace Prize is to be offered to such an individual, China's position is quite clear.
"Everyone knows the story of Wei Jingsheng. I think it would be unthinkable to give him the Nobel Peace Prize," said the spokesman.
Wei Jingsheng, sentenced in 1995 to 14 years in prison for sedition, has often been cited as a contender for the prize. This year's Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in Oslo on Friday.
Over the past 19 years, Wei, who suffers from heart problems, has enjoyed only six months of freedom after being jailed for his role in the Wall of Democracy movement in Beijing in 1978-1979.
Considered the father of China's pro-democracy movement, Wei was arrested a first time in March 1979 and jailed for 15 years for calling for democracy and condemning China's late patriarch Deng Xiaoping.
Freed six months early in 1993, he was detained again in April 1994 and held in secret for 17 months before being jailed again for 14 years for subversion.
A year ago he was awarded the European Parliament's "Andrei Sakharov" prize provoking protests from Beijing which considered the move interference in China's internal affairs.
In August, former leading dissident Ren Wanging wrote to the Nobel Committee suggesting the prize be given to all participants in the 1989 pro democracy demonstrations in Beijing that were crushed by the Chinese army in June of that year. Hundreds were killed, according to witnesses.
Wang Dan, one of the leaders of the student pro-democracy movement, has also been cited as a possible peace prize recipient.
Wang, 27, was jailed for 11 years last year for "counter-revolutionary activities."
