US President Barack Obama’s administration on Tuesday said that the president would veto legislation to rename the area in front of the Chinese embassy in Washington after a prominent Chinese political prisoner.
US Department of State spokesman Mark Toner told reporters that the bill proposed by Republican presidential hopeful Senator Ted Cruz — which has passed the Senate — would only complicate efforts to impress upon China the need to respect human rights and release Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波), a Nobel Peace laureate serving an 11-year sentence on the conviction of inciting state subversion.
The proposal has already raised hackles in China, which said it violated fundamental principles of international relations.
“If the bill becomes law, it will lead to serious consequences. We demand the US Congress stop reviewing the bill, and also hope the US administration could put an end to such a political drama,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) on Tuesday told a news conference in Beijing.
Cruz’s bill would make “1 Liu Xiaobo Plaza” the official address of the embassy. Its current address is 3505 International Place. The bill still needs approval from the US House of Representatives and then Obama’s signature.
Toner said the White House has indicated Obama would veto it.
“We view this kind of legislative action as something that only complicates our efforts so we oppose this approach,” Toner said. “It’s our desire to work more productively and cooperatively with Congress on ways to address our shared goal of improving human rights in China.”
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