WH May Send Pelosi to Nobel Ceremony
Politico reports:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is mulling a trip to Oslo to attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony for a jailed Chinese dissident.
The California Democrat might fly to Norway in December as the Nobel Institute bestows one of its highest honors to Liu Xiaobo, a democracy activist who is in his fourth prison term in China.
Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for Pelosi, said security reasons and the congressional calendar prevent him from confirming the trip. The House is in session and is expected to have a packed legislative schedule when it reconvenes after Thanksgiving.
“The speaker joins President [Barack] Obama and Secretary of State [Hillary Rodham] Clinton in welcoming the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese human rights activists Liu Xiaobo,” Elshami said Saturday in a statement to Politico. “However, we do not confirm or deny the speaker's schedule for security reasons, and considerations are also based on congressional business.”
The news out of Oslo is in stark contrast to Pelosi’s official line. Geir Lundestad, the director of the Nobel Institute, told Agence France-Presse that Pelosi “said yes” to an invitation.
"She will be the most prominent representative from the American side," he told AFP.
Pelosi’s attendance might not be met with open arms by China, which considers Liu a criminal. Liu was jailed about a year ago for authoring a manifesto that called for democracy in the nation, and the state-run media has criticized Norway for giving him the award.
Several countries, including China and Russia, are not attending the ceremony, but the U.S. ambassador is slated to attend.
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