2009 Nobel Peace Prize of race, religion, skin colour, he has an open attitude." Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Indian President Pratibha Patil and Israeli President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shimon Peres sent congratulatory messages to Obama, but Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters that "the decision was taken hastily and the award was [too] early." In Latin America, former Cuban President Fidel Castro called the award "positive" and said the prize should be seen as a criticism to the "genocidal policy" carried out by past U.S. presidents. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro said the award was a surprise and perhaps premature.
2010 Nobel Peace Prize Foreign Office as saying, "the politicization of the Nobel Peace Prize for the purposes of interference in the domestic affairs of states is not only contrary to the recognized principles of inter-State conduct, but also a negation of the underlying spirit conceived by the founder of the Prize." In what was described by Chinese media–watchers as a surprise because of its historical professionalism, "China Youth Daily" published an article containing Beijing students' expressions of anger and disbelief over the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu. The journal employed the traditional hard-liner phrase "people with ulterior motives" (别有用心的人)—directed