In the West, few observers would consider Fidel Castro a consummate peacemaker. Some in China beg to differ.

This week, as the Nobel Peace Prize was formally handed to a teenage Pakistani activist and an Indian child-rights campaigner, a Chinese group issued an alternate award to the retired Cuban leader, long regarded by Western counterparts as a tyrant and Cold War nemesis.

Organizers of the Confucius Peace Prize, named after the Chinese sage and styled as a platform for China’s views on peace and human rights, had a decidedly different take.

“Mr. Castro, during his leadership of Cuba, didn’t use force or violence when resolving conflicts and problems in international relations and Cuba’s ties with the U.S.,” said the Chinese state-run Global Times, citing a member of the Confucius prize jury. “This has important inspirational meaning with regard to the resolution of current international conflicts.”

The jury was also impressed with Mr. Castro’s “active” diplomacy in retirement and “important contributions” to nuclear disarmament, the Global Times said in a Thursday report. These qualities helped the 88-year-old stand out from a shortlist of 14 individuals and two organizations, including South Korean President Park Geun-hye, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and the Chinese Taoism Association.