It was meant to be China's answer to the Nobel Peace Prize, a timely riposte to the honoring of jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo. But the winner of the first "Confucius Peace Prize" didn't even bother to show up.
Instead, it was left to a scared-looking girl, whom organizers did not properly identify, to collect a stack of bills for the $15,000 cash prize meant for former Taiwan vice-president Lien Chan.
Peking has got to be kidding. Did they really think they could sow confusion by giving out a rival prize? As if a People's Choice Award is even remotely comparable to an Emmy.
To be fair, of course, last year the Nobel Peace Prize was the People's Choice Award. Although funny enough, nobody explained to Assange the reason he won that prize was "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples".
