China has warned the Norwegian Nobel committee against awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident, the Nobel Institute's director said Tuesday.

Geir Lundestad, who is also the secretary of the Nobel committee, said he received the warning when he met China's Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying in June.

Jailed activist Liu Xiaobo is seen as a favorite for the peace prize this year.

"It's well known that the Chinese make their point of view known," when a Chinese dissident is evoked as a potential Nobel winner, said Lundestad, who as secretary does not have the right to vote but guides the committee in its considerations.

"It happened again in June when I met Fu Ying," he told AFP.

He said the meeting took place at the Chinese embassy in Oslo, at the request of the vice-minister.

Lundestad told Norwegian public radio NRK on Monday that he had been warned that awarding the prize to a Chinese dissident would be seen as "an unfriendly gesture" by Beijing.

He said such a move is "not unusual," but insisted it does not influence the choice of the Nobel committee.

"Every year, officials from different countries voice their opinion to us on who should or should not get the prize," Lundestad said.

China'a opposition "did not prevent the Nobel committee to give the prize to the Dalai Lama in 1989," he said.

Liu, a 54-year-old writer and university professor, was convicted on subversion charges after he co-authored "Charter 08", a manifesto calling for political reform in China.

On December 25, 2009, a Beijing court sentenced him to 11 years in jail.

Bookmakers say he is among the favorites from a total of 237 candidates -- a record -- in line for this year's Peace Prize, the winner of which will be announced on October 8.

Liu's candidacy is supported by former Czech president Vaclav Havel, who in 1977 authored "Charter 77," calling for the democratisation of communist Czechoslovakia, a work which inspired Liu.

More than 120 academics, writers and lawyers, mostly from China, have signed a petition calling for the prize to be awarded to Liu.

earlier related report
China says Japan must act to meet Beijing 'halfway'
Beijing (AFP) Sept 28, 2010 - China on Tuesday called on Japan to take "candid and practical" actions to meet Beijing "halfway" to resolve a bitter, weeks-long spat between the Asian neighbours.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu made the comment after Tokyo insisted it owns a disputed island chain at the centre of the row, which began with the September 7 collision of a Chinese fishing boat and two Japanese patrol ships.

"China highly values China-Japan relations. But safeguarding bilateral relations requires the two sides to meet halfway and requires Japan to take candid and practical actions," Jiang told reporters.

"Japan should take concrete steps to eliminate the negative impact of this incident on bilateral relations."

She urged Tokyo to "stop its stalking or disruption of Chinese fisheries law enforcement management boats" patrolling the disputed waters in the East China Sea, but beyond that, offered no other specifics on what steps should be taken.

When asked about the prospects of a meeting between Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan at an Asia-Europe meeting in Brussels next week, Jiang replied: "I have no information on that."

Beijing reacted angrily after Tokyo arrested the trawler's captain, summoning its ambassador several times and calling off several planned diplomatic meetings.

Japan has since released the skipper involved in the incident near the island chain known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

But industry sources say China has also halted exports to Japan of rare earth minerals, crucial for a range of high-tech products, a claim Beijing has denied.

China has since last week held four Japanese nationals for allegedly filming a military installation. They are employees of a construction firm bidding for a contract to clean up Japanese chemical weapons from World War II.

On Tuesday, Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara told parliament that "no territorial issue exists" over the rocky islets, claimed by Tokyo, Beijing and Taipei.

Maehara also said the arrest of the captain, which Beijing had said was illegal, was entirely appropriate, Kyodo News and other media reported.