TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — More than 100 Nobel laureates on Wednesday (July 28) jointly condemned China for its attempt to prevent the Dalai Lama and fellow Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) of Taiwan from addressing the Nobel Prize Summit in April, CNA reported.

The South China Morning Post reported that over 100 Nobel Prize laureates had jointly issued a statement online saying they were very concerned about a series of incidents leading up to and during the Nobel Prize Summit.

The cosigners of the statement included Nobel Prize winners from many fields, including economist Joseph Stiglitz, South African novelist J.M. Coetzee, and Nigerian playwright Wole Soyinka.

According to the statement, China's then-ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai repeatedly asked summit organizers to remove the Dalai Lama, who is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and Nobel Chemistry prize laureate Lee from the list of those who would address the summit, held from April 26-28.

A spokesperson for the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS), which co-organized the summit with the Nobel Foundation, confirmed that the Chinese Embassy had called NAS personnel in March and April to request the removal of the two from the speakers' list and sent a follow-up email just before the event, per CNA.

The spokesperson said the organizers categorically rejected the requests from the embassy.

The statement also pointed out that two cyberattacks had occurred during the summit. The first, on April 26, interrupted image transmissions, while the second interfered with the operations of the whole platform the following day.

The statement added that regardless of the potential relation to the cyberattacks, the Chinese government should cease its bullying of the Nobel laureates and the world of science.