Chinese authorities on Thursday told US, German and EU diplomats that Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) cannot be moved to get medical treatment elsewhere due to his illness, a source briefed on the meeting told reporters.
Liu, 61, was in 2009 jailed for 11 years for “inciting subversion of state power” after he helped write a petition known as “Charter 08” calling for sweeping political reforms.
He is being treated in a hospital in Shenyang, China, for late-stage liver cancer after being granted medical parole, his lawyer told reporters on Monday.
A deputy head of the Chinese Ministry of Justice told the diplomats that Liu’s family was happy with the treatment he was receiving and had agreed that he should not be moved, said the source, who declined to be identified.
The diplomats asked that Liu and his wife be allowed to communicate directly with the outside world, choose their own hospital and get treatment from a foreign doctor.
Chinese officials responded that might not be possible, the source said.
On Thursday, US-based rights lawyer and activist Jared Genser said that 154 Nobel laureates had called for Liu to be allowed to travel to the US for medical treatment.
Genser, who has acted as a lawyer for Liu in the past, said in a statement that the laureates made their request in a letter to US President Donald Trump, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and US Ambassador to China Terry Branstad.
“We urge the Chinese government on humanitarian grounds to grant Liu Xiaobo and [his wife] Liu Xia’s [劉霞] wish to travel to the United States for medical treatment,” Richard Roberts, 1993 laureate in physiology or medicine, wrote in the letter on behalf of the laureates.
The US Department of State said it was gathering details about Liu’s condition.
Washington called on Beijing to grant Liu full parole, release his wife from house arrest and allow them access to the medical care of their choosing, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs spokeswoman Anna Richey-Allen said.
Liu Xia has been under effective house arrest since her husband won the peace prize in 2010 and was not available for comment on Thursday.
Amnesty International on Tuesday told reporters she had told Chinese authorities she wanted her husband to get treatment abroad.
Western politicians and rights activists have voiced concern about the quality of Liu Xiaobo’s treatment and have said he should be given the option of leaving China if that was the best option.
The US embassy in Beijing on Thursday declined to comment on any briefing from the authorities.
A German Federal Foreign Office source also declined to comment and there was no immediate comment from EU officials.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Justice did not respond to requests for comment.
The source close to Liu Xiaobo’s family told reporters that his wife had weeks ago accepted an offer to move to Germany if she and Liu were released, but that was before the diagnosis of liver cancer was made public.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese