This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro is this year’s winner of China’s Confucius peace prize, portrayed by organisers as an alternative to the Nobel prize, which they see as biased against China.

The committee that sponsors the prize praised 88-year-old Castro for his “contributions to peace”, in contrast to the view held by many in the west of Castro as a dictator who ran an oppressive one-party state for nearly five decades while seeking to export communist revolution.

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

Castro also made “important contributions on eliminating nuclear war after retirement”, Liu said.

In line with past recipients, the ailing Castro did not come to Beijing to pick up his award and it was unclear whether he was aware of the honour. The prize, in the form of a gold statuette and certificate, was instead handed to a Cuban foreign student at a ceremony on Tuesday at a Beijing hotel.

On Monday, the Nobel peace prize was awarded to 17-year-old Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban two years ago for speaking out on education, and Kailash Satyarthi of India, who has campaigned for children’s rights.

The sponsors of the Confucius prize are academics and private businesspeople who say they are independent of China’s government. Named for ancient China’s most famous sage, the prize was launched in 2010 after the Nobel peace prize was awarded to imprisoned Chinese dissident writer Liu Xiaobo.

China’s government furiously condemned Liu’s award but has distanced itself from the Confucius prize. Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Thursday said the award was “set up by the civilian institute. It merely expresses their own aspirations on world peace.”

Prior recipients include former UN secretary general Kofi Annan and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who was honoured for enhancing Russia’s military and political status and crushing anti-government forces in Chechnya.

Liu said Castro was picked by a 33-member committee from a list of 14 individuals and two organisations. Others the committee considered included the South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, and the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon.