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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.