China's state media has stepped up rhetoric against the Norwegian Nobel Committee, just hours ahead of the awarding of the peace prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. The Communist Party-run Global Times newspaper today compared the Nobel ceremony to a cult ritual, calling the event a farce. Reports say that dozens of Liui Xiaobo's associates have been arrested and foreign web sites have been blocked. Meanwhile, Liu will be represented at the ceremony by an empty chair, because he is serving an 11-year prison sentence in China for subverting state power. China has placed his wife under house arrest so she cannot attend in his place. China has been pressing for a global boycott of today's ceremony in Oslo. So far, at least 18 countries have turned down invitations. About 45 countries have agreed to attend the ceremony. The top United Nations human rights official, Navi Pillay, and prominent human rights groups have called for Liu's release. But China has said it will not acquiesce to international pressure to free him. Liu Xiabao participated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest in Beijing and is one of China's most prominent activists fighting for greater political freedom and human rights.