As an aside, even though the Norwegian government has nothing to do with the prize, China quickly ended lots of relations with Norway, losing Norwegian companies billions. Now, the government is too afraid to publicly speak about Liu, to not sour what they have spent years trying to fix. Weak.
The weakness is democracy. The Norwegian governing party - whoever it is - now knows that China's default position to perceived outside interference is disproportionate economic punishment, leading to pressure on the living standards of the voters they depend on. Autocratic states have discovered a critical weakness in the representative democracy and there's little we can currently do about it
Democracies can't take deterministic stances for the long term good of their people and because any clear deterministic stance about the future can be ridiculed and criticised, and thus a democracy can't execute an effective long term plan for rapid progress and development, and naturally wallows in stagnation. The people are effectively distracted and their frustrations channelled into the cathartic release of futile voting, while they are seduced by the delusion that they have actual power, when democracy is simply an effective means for social control to maintain a status quo. Democracies are not meant to take deterministic stances, to do so would upset the status quo and social control equilibrium that democratic theatre protects through its elaborate stage craft of "universal suffrage".
A technocratic-governed advanced society like China, can afford to make long term bets and bold moves for the good of its people, and thus in my view better deserves the mantle of caring for its citizens wellbeing.
Western states and their citizens sooth themselves with the fake payoff of pretending they are "morally superior" to countries like China by chanting denouncements of "human rights", which simply better distracts these Westerners from how their own governing system effectively short-changes them and swaps development growth and prosperity, for "harmony" -- but how harmonious is that currently? Probably the only reason people in Western "liberal democracies" don't revolt is because they are given the effective catharsis of "self determination" by voting every couple of years: a way to run around in the park, let off steam, cool off their hot heads. Democratic theatre is meant to enchant, distract and beguile the audience, so people obsess over basically meaningless differences, exaggerated only for dramatic effect to keep the audience spellbound. An exercise in collective suspension of belief. While society and economies stagnate.
China can better care for its citizens because it can relentlessly pursue long term benefits and greater goods over short term gains, status quo and special interests. 5 year plans by the ruling elites have yielded seventy years of incredible economic growth. Westerns will at this point console themselves at their lackluster performance in comparison by pretending that "China is bad" because of the blood that was shed to bring the current peace and stability.
Has it ever occurred to you that as much as China maybe feigns affront at your human rights criticisms, perhaps it also conceals a chuckle and is glad you distract yourselves thus with such concerns, while their economic grows and yours stagnates, while your politicians bicker and theirs act?
Westerners will at this point console themselves that "China is bad" by making comments about the blood that was shed by Mao, and so on...
A very effective defensive strategy at learning from the competition and insulation from introspection is to cocoon yourselves inside a shell of pretend "moral superiority" and pretending those that exceed you are actually less than you...don't any of you begin to feel that the brainwashing and propaganda to sustain such a state of non-introspection is very skillful?
China skilfully deploys propaganda and mass deception as well, but to what end? To the end of the benefit of the people, economic growth, and civil harmony. What better way to deliver on their responsibility to their people than take care of them? Are your governments delivering on their responsibilities to you?
Liu Xiaobo was a moron, elevated beyond his merit by a bitter and myopic award committee, bent on rewarding anything that would perpetuate a fading dream of Western supremacy -- cue the award to an internal critic of China. He advocated the Westernization of China. China will do better to continue inventing its own system rather than mimicking a Western one. Of course ignorant Westerners support such a dissident wholesale, but they only have to look at the relative consequences of a Chinese model vs a Western model to see the results: growth and stability vs stagnation and division. He's not a patriot, he's someone who hates China and the qualities that made it great: its culture, its people, its single party rule. He has no love for China, only hate, despite what the lies in SCMP say. He's a political actor, and not soon enough gone, for the good of China.