Giving the Nobel Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was a "blasphemy", China said Friday as it faced a barrage of criticism over the democracy activist's death. 

Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China had lodged protests with "certain countries" for interfering in its "judicial sovereignty".

"Conferring the prize to such a person goes against the purposes of this award. It’s a blasphemy of the peace prize," Geng told a regular news briefing.