China has reacted furiously to the decision by the Nobel Committee in October to award this year's peace prize to jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo. A ceremony honouring Liu will be held in Oslo on Friday.

Beijing has heaped scorn on the Nobel Committee since the decision was announced, both at official press conferences and through the state media, but ramped up the rhetoric this week, calling its members "clowns".

"The West has shown great creativity in conspiring against China," the Global Times, the nationalistic sister publication of the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily, said in a commentary.

"The West is using this year's Nobel Peace Prize to sound the charge against China's ideology, aiming to undermine the benign surroundings for China's future development," it said.

"The West has not ceased harassing China with all kinds of tricks like the Nobel Peace Prize," it added. "Is there a 'plot' among the Western countries against China?"

On Wednesday, the same newspaper said the award given to Liu had created "tremendous chaos" around the world.

Liu, 54, was jailed in December 2009 for 11 years on subversion charges after co-authoring Charter 08, a bold petition calling for reform in one-party China.

earlier related report
Anger as Philippines says it will skip Nobel ceremony
Manila (AFP) Dec 9, 2010 - The Philippines confirmed on Thursday it would skip the Nobel peace prize ceremony for Chinese dissident Liu Xiabao following pressure from China, triggering anger from human rights advocates.

The decision by one of Asia's most vibrant democracies to not be represented at Friday's event in Norway comes as it seeks to build stronger military and economic ties with communist China.

"It is confirmed that there will be no Philippine official at the ceremony," Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Eduardo Malaya told AFP.

He said Manila's envoy to Oslo, Elizabeth Buencuceso, was out of Norway on an official consular mission.

"Our ambassador to Norway has a scheduling conflict," he said.

But a senior government official who did not want to be named said the move was meant to avoid a confrontation with China, which has warned governments around the world that ties will be harmed if they attend the ceremony.

The decision comes as Philippines armed forces chief, General Ricardo David, is in Beijing this week to sign a major deal to buy Chinese military hardware.

The Philippines has also been desperate to repair ties with China following the botched efforts to end a bus hijacking incident that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead in August.

"We do not want to further annoy China," said the diplomat who asked not to be named.

President Benigno Aquino's spokesman, Herminiano Coloma, declined to comment when contacted by AFP about the decision, and instead referred all queries to the foreign affairs department.

Human Rights Watch said it was "shocked and disappointed" at the Philippine decision, especially as the country had always been a leading supporter of Myanmar's democracy heroine Aung San Suu Kyi, herself a Nobel laureate.

"The Philippines prides itself on its democratic values, which is why it is shocking to see this government turning its back on Liu Xiaobo's non-violent struggle for free expression in China," said Elaine Pearson, the group's deputy Asia director.

"By declining the invitation to attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, the Philippines is failing to live up to its promises to promote human rights in Asia."

Lawyer Harry Roque, chair of the Manila-based Center for International Law, also expressed outrage.

"We should not have allowed China into bullying us not to attend the ceremony. This is an abdication of our moral duty to the world as the source of people power, of liberal democracy," Roque told AFP.

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