Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has been awarded the ‘Confucius Peace Prize,’ China’s own home-grown alternative to the Nobel Peace Prize, for his “important contributions” to world peace, the state-run Global Times reports.
Liu Zhiqin, an initiator and panel member of the award told reporters yesterday that the ex-dictator’s non-violent way of dealing with international relations, especially that with the US, “has important implications for settling international disputes.”
Other nominees included South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and China Taoism Association.
A Cuban exchange student received the award on Castro’s behalf at a ceremony on Tuesday, one day before Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi accepted their Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, as has become the usual practice for the Chinese award since its launch.
In 2010, the first Confucius Peace Prize was awarded to former Taiwanese vice president Lien Chan for his work in improving relations with Chinese mainland - just two days before the jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel.
However, it suffered a rocky launch when the first winner did not appear for the award ceremony, and only learned of his victory from media reports. Instead, a bewildered young girl who has no relation to Lien described by organizers as simply an "angel of peace" received the award and collected the RMB100,000 cash prize on Lien’s behalf.
The 2011 Confucius Peace Prize was awarded to then- prime minister and former, current and probably eternal president of Russia Vladimir Putin, whose decision to go to war in Chechnya in 1999 was praised by the award committee.
“His iron hand and toughness revealed in this war impressed the Russians a lot, and he was regarded to be capable of bringing safety and stability to Russia,” read an English version of the committee’s statement. “He became the antiterrorist No. 1 and the national hero.”
Because ultimately, war is peace.
[images via The Guardian]
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