Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04) today offered his heartfelt congratulations to  Liu Xiaobo who was selected to receive the Nobel Peace Prize today. In February of this year, Rep. Smith led a bi-partisan group of lawmakers in nominating Liu for the prize (click here to view letter, which also nominated two other persecuted rights advocates to be joint recipients, Chen Guangcheng and Gao Zhisheng), as part of an international groundswell of support for awarding the prize to Liu. 

“Liu Xiaobo is a hero among heroes. In receiving this award he represents all the Chinese human rights defenders who have been abused by the Chinese government,” Rep. Smith said. “This award will be a shot of adrenalin for all Chinese human rights advocates and prisoners of conscience. It should also be a wake-up call for the Obama administration, which at best has been indifferent to human rights abuses in China, and at worst has been an enabler.”

“Liu has sacrificed and suffered for the dignity of the Chinese people,” said Smith. “He is a Chinese patriot in the truest sense of the word. The Chinese government should release him from prison and recognize that they are blessed to have such a man among them.”

Rep. David Wu (OR-01), who joined Rep. Smith in the nomination, said, “I was delighted to wake up this morning to find out that Liu Xiaobo had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  Mr. Liu’s impassioned work to give voice to the voiceless and to sacrifice his own freedom in the fight for freedom in China underscores the unyielding courage that befits the Nobel Peace Prize.”

Rep. Bob Inglis (SC-04), who also supported the nomination, said, “The Nobel Peace Prize could not have gone to a more deserving candidate than Liu Xiaobo, who has shown incredible leadership in peacefully urging his country towards a democratic future. Mr. Liu is a courageous and noble man whose 11 year prison sentence for the so-called crime of calling for freedom is a sad testimony to the oppressiveness of the Chinese government. I join my colleagues in applauding the Nobel Committee for choosing to honor him in this way, and call for his immediate release from prison.”

The congressional letter nominating Liu described him as, “a visionary leader who has repeatedly and publicly called on the Chinese government to recognize the human rights of its citizens, most recently as a leader of the Charter ’08 movement.”

Smith, senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, and Ranking Member of Congressional-Executive Commission on China, was joined in the nominating letter by Reps. David Wu (OR-01), Joe Pitts (PA-16), Thaddeus McCotter (MI-11), Bob Inglis (SC-04), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (FL-21), and Gus Bilarakis (FL-09). In the letter, the congressmen note the Nobel Peace Prize Committee’s history in awarding prizes despite the strong opposition of oppressive governments like that of China.