Ever since Mr. Liu Xiaobo was named recipient of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for promoting democratic change in China, the government in Beijing has ensured that he receives maximum publicity — not deliberately, of course. The Chinese government did everything it could to intimidate the awards committee so that it would not name him and then exploded in fury when that campaign failed.

It denounced the recipient as a mere criminal, trashed the committee for interfering in China's internal affairs and demeaning the Nobel Prize itself, warned the government in Norway that it risked undermining relations, and pressed other governments to not send representatives to the ceremony held on Dec. 10. It was a revealing demonstration of Chinese thinking and Beijing's readiness to pull every lever to influence other states when they dare to counter Chinese desires.

The campaign was not without impact. Eighteen states, including Russia, sided with Beijing and did not attend the ceremony. Some share Beijing's noxious views of the social contract between citizens and governments; others, like the Philippines, worried that they need to be more respectful of Chinese wishes in the region.