Dissident Hu Jia, recently tipped as a leading contender for the Nobel Peace Prize (which he didn’t get), is now one of three names being considered for the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize, also handed out for human rights work. According to a story by the AP, Beijing has already sent a letter to the President of the EU Assembly warning, among other things, that the awarding of the prize to Hu would “bring serious damage to China-EU relations.”
I’d say the odds are pretty good that Hu could get this prize, which is to be announced later Thursday. There’s a simmering anger among human rights types about the fact that China seemed to get away scot free despite reneging on its Olympics promises on the issue. On the other hand, there will be a good deal of pressure from economic realists, who will point out that in times of economic turmoil it’s probably a good idea to poke sticks at one of your biggest customers for Airbus and the like. whether it will make the slightest difference if he does get it, or possibly make things worse for him and activists in general, is another issue.