on 18 january 2010, liu was named by many people as a nominee (possible winner) of the 2010 nobel peace prize. these included václav havel, the 14th dalai lama, andré glucksmann, vartan gregorian, and desmond tutu. china's foreign ministry spokesperson ma zhaoxu said that awarding the nobel peace prize to liu would be "totally wrong". geir lundestad, a secretary of the nobel committee, stated the award would not be influenced by beijing's opposition. on 25 september 2010, "the new york times" reported that a petition in support of the nobel nomination was being circulated in china.