China hits back at criticisms over Nobel laureate’s death

SHENYANG: China lashed out yesterday at international criticism after it denied Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo’s dying wish to leave the country and faced pressure to set the democracy champion’s widow free.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing lodged official protests with the United States, France, Germany and the United Nations human rights office over their “irresponsible remarks” regarding Liu Xiaobo, and took aim at his Nobel status.

“Conferring the prize to such a person goes against the purposes of this award. It’s a blasphemy of the peace prize,” he said.

The US and European Union paid tribute to Liu as it urged President Xi Jinping’s government to let his widow, the poet Liu Xia, who has been under house arrest since 2010, leave the country.

Germany voiced regret that Beijing ignored its offer to host Liu while French President Emmanuel Macron remembered him as a “freedom fighter”. Britain hit out at China for preventing Liu from travelling overseas for treatment.

The UN human rights commissioner, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, said Liu “was jailed for standing up for his beliefs”.

While China lodged protests, some of the global reaction to his death was muted, highlighting China’s emergence as an economic and diplomatic superpower.

US President Donald Trump and Macron offered praise for Xi at a joint press conference in Paris, and only voiced sadness for Liu later in statements.

In a sign of growing confidence, the state-controlled Global Times newspaper said “the West has bestowed upon Liu a halo, which will not linger”.

A day after Liu’s death, attention turned to his widow’s fate.

Chinese doctors said she was by her husband’s side when he lost his battle with liver cancer on Thursday at age 61, more than a month after he was transferred from prison to a hospital in the northeastern city here.

Liu’s main doctor said he was able to say goodbye to his 56year-old wife and in his final moments, told her to “live well”. AFP