Ladies and Gentlemen, Good evening.

After the award was announced, Liu Xia (Liu Xiaobo's wife) told us that if she couldn't attend the ceremony, she would like me to say a few words of thanks on her behalf. But since then, we have not been able to get any word from her. Therefore, I'd just like to say 'thank you' in her name: 'thank you' to the Nobel Committee, 'thank you' to the friends who nominated Liu Xiaobo and supported his candidacy, 'thank you' to all the distinguished persons who have come to the award ceremony. Your support for Liu Xiaobo shows your concern not only for him but for all China's prisoners of conscience, for the problem of human rights in China, and for peace in the world.

When the Nobel Committee picked Liu Xiaobo for this year's Peace Prize, the Chinese government responded with a rigid nastiness for which there is no precedent in the hundred years' history of the Nobel Prize. Not even Nazi Germany was so overbearing. It has reminded me of something Liu Xiaobo said in an essay five years ago: "China," he said, "is only one step away from Fascism."

Many think that the Chinese government's remarkable economic achievements mean it will also make some progress in human rights. But I want to point out something. China's economic development has been founded on the June 4th massacre and the suppression of human rights. How could the government be willing to stop suppressing human rights? What has been called the Chinese Model is essentially opposed to human rights and universal values. The growing power of China in all areas will only make the regime more self-confident, more domineering, and more disposed to a blind faith in the efficacy of brute force, more contemptuous of justice and rights, and, inevitably, a greater menace to the whole world.

The Chinese government is always talking about a "peaceful rise." Their spokesmen like to say, "We've never bullied other people or interfered in other countries' internal affairs." China, they say, "isn't seeking hegemony now and never will do so, not even after becoming a fully developed nation. “ But as everyone knows, the Chinese government bullies its own people all the time, its own citizens. History has seen plenty of autocratic regimes that singled out other races or other nations for ill-treatment; less commonly, they also bully the men and women of their own race and nation.But there has never been a regime that bullied only its own people without trying to oppress those of other races and nations. It's just impossible.

Twenty years ago, not many people imagined the Chinese Communist regime would still maintain its grip today. Ten years ago, people saw that it was renewing its strength, but few imagined it would so soon become a great power. Today we must face the fact that the Communist dictatorship of China has achieved its ascent. What will it be like ten years from now? Thorbjorn Jagland, chair of the Nobel Committee, has said that this year's award is one of the most important one in all the century-long history of the Peace Prize. I can tell you it has been a magnificent inspiration to the Chinese people in their just cause, the struggle for freedom of speech and fundamental human rights. It has also helped the international community re-focus on the problem of human rights in China. China is rising to great-power status, and its people account for one-fifth the population of the world. The issue of human rights in China is therefore not only China's problem, but the world's. Only if there is a fundamental improvement in human rights there will the world remain at peace.

Thank you all.