"Facts fully show that the decision of the Nobel committee cannot represent the overall majority of the people of the world," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in a statement.

"One-sidedness and lies have no footing to stand on, a Cold War mentality is unpopular.

"This kind of political theatre will never shake the determination and the confidence of the people of China to uphold the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics."

Jiang was speaking just as the ceremony to award the 2010 Peace Prize to Liu in absentia was taking place in Oslo.

She further reiterated Beijing's insistence that the award to Liu was an attempt to foment unrest in China and bring political instability to the world's most populous nation.

"The plots of these people are doomed to failure," she said.

"We resolutely oppose any nation and any person to use the Nobel prize to interfere in China's internal affairs or violate China's judicial sovereignty."

Liu, a writer who has advocated political reform in China for more than two decades, was jailed in December 2009 for 11 years on subversion charges after co-authoring Charter 08, a bold petition calling for change.

Beijing has reacted with fury to the award, describing the Norwegian Nobel Committee as "clowns" and threatening other countries to stay away from the ceremony, while preventing the jailed dissident or a representative from travelling to Oslo to receive the award.

earlier related report
China clamps down on dissidents as Nobel awarded
Beijing (AFP) Dec 10, 2010 - China clamped down on dissidents, the media and the Internet Friday as the Nobel committee honoured dissident Liu Xiaobo, with activists missing and strong security at his wife's flat.

A ceremony in Liu's honour was held Friday in Oslo, but neither Liu, who is serving an 11-year prison sentence, his wife -- under house arrest -- nor other members of his family were able to collect his award.

China has reacted with fury to the prize, blocking scores of activists and lawyers from leaving the country in an apparent bid to stop them from going to the ceremony in the Norwegian capital.

On Friday, many dissidents in China were either unaccounted for or under strict surveillance, with many unable to communicate to the outside world as their Internet access was cut off and phone use limited, rights groups said.

Security was strong in front of the Beijing apartment complex where Liu's wife, Liu Xia, lives, with marked and unmarked police cars lining the road. Several officers stood guard, asking reporters for their names.

Liu Xia has been essentially confined to the flat since the prize was announced in October. She was initially able to communicate sporadically via Twitter but has not been heard from directly in weeks.

Jean-Philippe Beja, a China expert and friend of the couple, said he had heard news of her through a third party.

"She has books, she paints and she speaks to her mother and brothers every day on the phone. Apparently she is in OK spirits," Beja told AFP.

Security was also strong in other parts of Beijing, such as at the United Nations compound where at least 100 people protested earlier in the day, although it was unclear what the demonstration was about.

In Norway, the Nobel Committee called for Liu's immediate release.

"We regret that the laureate is not present here today," committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said as he placed the peace prize diploma and gold medal on an empty chair in Oslo City Hall.

"Liu has only exercised his civil rights. He has not done anything wrong. He must be released," Jagland said.

Amid China's threats of "consequences" for countries showing support for Liu, around 20 countries stayed away from the event, but dozens of ambassadors joined Norway's king and queen for the speeches and ceremony in a flower-decked city hall.

Some activists based in Beijing have been forced to leave the capital in anticipation of the ceremony in Oslo, while others decided to travel to avoid any problems with the authorities.

Li Fangping, a Beijing-based human rights lawyer who had been under constant surveillance in the capital in recent weeks, told AFP he left Tuesday for the southeastern province of Fujian.

"Police took me to the airport," he said, adding he had been told not to leave China and not to say anything related to Liu and the prize. He said he planned to return home on Sunday.

Teng Biao, another rights lawyer and professor, was seized by police after teaching a class and taken to a county outside Beijing, where he will be held until Sunday, activist group Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) said.

AFP made repeated attempts to call Teng Biao, but a message said the phone was out of service. A similar message was heard when AFP tried to phone Mo Shaoping, the head of the law firm that represents Liu.

The whereabouts of other dissidents were unknown. CHRD said Zhang Zuhua, a co-author along with Liu of Charter 08, a petition calling for political reform in China, had been abducted Thursday by police from the street near his home.

Charter 08 was published two years ago to the day, on December 10, 2008.

Liu was jailed in December 2009 for subversion, and the government has denounced his Nobel prize as tantamount to encouraging crime.

China's state-run Global Times Friday compared the prize ceremony to a cult ritual, saying the event was a "farce that puts China on trial".

Censors have also apparently begun blocking reports about Liu on foreign television networks, including CNN, BBC and French-language satellite channel TV5. The Nobel committee's website was also blocked.

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