Fidel Castro wins China's alternate to Nobel peace prize

Havana, Dec 11: Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has been honoured by China with Confucius Peace Prize, which is described as China's alternative to the Nobel Prize.

China give away Confucius prize as the country sees Nobel as biased against Asian countries.

The 88-year-old Castro, who is considered as a dictator by the Western countries, was lauded for "contributions to peace". Castro considered capitalist countries, especially the US, as Cuba's rivals. Castro ruled communist Cuba for nearly five decades.

"As Cuba's leader, when managing international relations, especially relations with the U.S., he did not use military force or violence to resolve controversies and disputes," prize co-founder Liu Zhiqin was quoted as saying by the official newspaper Global Times.

Castro was also praised for making "important contributions on eliminating nuclear war after retirement.

Castro did not attend the award ceremony held in Beijing and an AP report said that it wasn't clear whether he was aware of the honor. The prize, in the form of a gold-colored statuette and certificate, was instead handed to a Cuban foreign student representative at a ceremony Tuesday at a Beijing hotel.

Oneindia News