Đấy là vì lợi ích quốc gia khi không cử đại diện tới Oslo (để cứu 5 người Philippines bị kết án tử hình tại TQ), nhưng chúng ta vẫn giữ cam kết đối với quyền con người- -PHILIPPINES - TRUNG QUỐC - NOBEL: Philippines giải thích vì sao không dự lễ trao giải Nobel Hòa bình (RFI)- Hôm nay, 12/12/2010, chính quyền Philippines đã giải thích lý do nước này không cử đại diện tham dự Lễ trao giải Nobel Hòa bình tại Na Uy : Manila hy vọng Bắc Kinh sẽ khoan hồng cho 5 công dân nước này bị kết án tử hình vì tội buôn lậu ma túy.
Philippines skipped Nobel gala to save Filipinos on death row DPA
Manila - The Philippines skipped the Nobel Peace Prize gala honouring a Chinese dissident to avoid jeopardising efforts to save Filipinos on death row in China, President Benigno Aquino III said in remarks published Sunday.
Aquino told the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper that it was in the country's national interest not to send a representative to the ceremony on Friday in Oslo, Norway.
'Our national interest (is) to advance our citizens' needs first,' he told the Inquirer in his first remarks on the controversy. 'It's in our national interest that we do not at this time send a representative to the Nobel award rites.'
'But we remain firmly committed to human rights,' he added.
International and local human rights group have slammed Aquino for boycotting the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, which Beijing has opposed.
According to the Inquirer, Aquino said he had just sent a letter to the Chinese government seeking clemency for five Filipino workers sentenced to death for various crimes in China.
He added that he wanted to put a 'closure' on strains in bilateral relations caused by a tour bus hostage-taking that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead in August in Manila.
The Philippines was among more than a dozen countries that did not send representatives to the ceremony.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said it was shocked that the Philippines, a staunch advocate of democracy and human rights, had turned its back on Xiaobo's non-violent struggle for free expression in China.
