Ailing China Nobel laureate in critical condition
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese doctors were working to treat critically ill Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, as the government hardened its position against growing pleas to allow China's best-known political prisoner to leave for treatment overseas.
A stark update issued Monday evening by Liu's hospital said he was suffering from poor kidney function and bleeding in the liver from metastasizing tumors. It heightened pressure on Beijing, which has resisted appeals from several nations to let Liu and his family go.
A foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, asked other countries at a daily news briefing "to respect China's national sovereignty and refrain from interfering in its domestic affairs due to an individual case." On Monday the office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked Beijing for a "signal of humanity for Liu Xiaobo and his family."
In late June the dissident was transferred from prison to a hospital because of advanced liver cancer. Supporters and Western governments urged China to allow Liu to choose where he wanted to be treated and to release him. Beijing has resisted, citing Liu's fragile health and saying he is receiving the best possible care in China.
Liu was convicted in 2009 of inciting subversion for his role in the "Charter 08" movement calling for political reform. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize a year later while in prison.
Two foreign doctors who were permitted to visit Liu said Sunday they deemed him strong enough to leave the country with appropriate care, apparently contradicting Chinese expert opinion.
Chinese leaders face two unpalatable choices, analysts say. If he leaves the country, Liu could speak out against Beijing in his remaining days and become a worldwide media icon. If Beijing maintains the status quo — keeping him under close guard in China — his death in custody would tarnish the Communist Party's image and draw unwanted comparisons with Nazi Germany.
Liu's supporters have drawn parallels with the history of Carl von Ossietzky, an activist who received the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize while he was held in a German prison camp and ultimately died from tuberculosis under the watch of secret police. But even they say it is unlikely that China will let Liu go, which would seem like backtracking.
"If a Nobel Peace Prize laureate dies in detention, it would batter China's image but only be a short-term political hit," said Mo Zhixu, a dissident writer who is friends with Liu. "If he leaves and makes political statements, it would be a unifying force for the world and rejuvenate a political reform movement in China that's reached a low — maybe even start a new wave."
Liu's plight has already drawn public protests in the southern Chinese city of Hong Kong. On Monday, dozens of people waved banners and chanted slogans as they staged a sit-in protest outside the Chinese government's representative office, urging Beijing to allow Liu to be treated overseas.
Human rights lawyer Albert Ho called it a "marathon sit-in" aimed at sending a strong message to Beijing. The activists said they would not leave until Liu is allowed to leave the country.