Chinese Furore Over Street Name

By Tenzin Samten / February 18, 2016;

Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia
Photo: Reuters

China is yet again reminded of the human rights violations in their country. The United States Senate has passed a bill to rename the street opposite the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC after Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned Chinese pro-democracy activist. If the bill is accepted at congress and presidential level, the Chinese embassy’s address will change from 3,505 International Plaza to ‘1 Liu Xiaobo Plaza.’

Liu Xiaobo, 60 won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 for his pursuit of human rights in China. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 for campaigning for democracy in Tibet.

The bill was proposed by Republican senator and US presidential candidate, Ted Cruz in 2014. According to the Telegraph, Mr Cruz said “I am grateful to my colleagues for passing this legislation today, for standing with Dr and Mrs Liu and for standing and speaking for truth and for freedom.”

The bill was introduced by Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz
Photo: AP

However, Beijing condemned the bill to rename street as, for them Liu Xiabo is a convicted Chinese criminal. China Daily reported that China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei stressed in a news conference that his government strongly opposes the bill. He called US to stop the act of “political farce.”

Zhu Haiquan, a Chinese embassy spokesman, speaking to Reuters, said, “It’s provocative and counterproductive. We strongly urge the US side to stop such actions,” Comments from Chinese netizens ranged from anger to support over the news. Ren Yuanzhe, a leading researcher of international relationship studies at China Foreign Affairs University said, “these politicians intended to outrage and shame Beijing by doing this.” Ren further added that the bill is unlikely to pass and China should not make a big deal of it.

The proposal could still be vetoed by the US president, a White House spokesperson has indicated, so the symbolic move to highlight the human rights situation in China may not be successful.

“While we continue to impress upon China the imperative of respecting human rights and releasing Liu Xiaobo, as well as other political prisoners, we do not believe Senator Cruz’s ploy to rename a street in Washington DC is an effective way to achieve either goal,” said a White House Spokesman to Reuters.