Keep up the pressure on China
Rename a plaza in front of the Chinese embassy after dissident Liu Xiaobo
In 1984, the U.S. Senate passed an amendment to rename the street outside the Soviet Embassy after Andrei Sakharov, the Russian nuclear physicist, dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Sakharov Plaza was named both to honor a human rights defender and to rebuke the government that spent years persecuting him. Though the move raised tensions with the Soviet Union, it also sent a strong message to Soviet diplomats and beyond that Sakharov and activists like him were not forgotten. Two years later, Sakharov was released from internal exile — a decision that his stepdaughter attributes, at least in part, to the naming of the plaza.
Now a similar measure is on the table to memorialize the late Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has introduced a bill to rename the street in front of the Chinese Embassy “Liu Xiaobo Plaza.” He could not have chosen a more worthy person to commemorate.
Liu embodied the spirit of democracy in a country that has done its utmost to crush it. For more than two decades, Liu risked his security and freedom to press the Chinese Communist authorities for open elections and the rule of law. He was a beacon of hope for human rights advocates in China and all over the world — until his death in Chinese captivity on July 13.
Naming a street in his honor not only would be a tribute to his life and achievements. It also would tell Beijing that its crackdown on human rights has not gone unnoticed. Each time a Chinese diplomat entered or left the embassy, he or she would confront Liu’s legacy — and maybe spare a thought for the hundreds of human rights lawyers and activists currently detained by the Communist Party. This should be impetus enough for the change.
But there is another reason to keep applying pressure on China. Liu’s widow, Liu Xia, has been kept under house arrest by the Chinese government though she has never been charged with a crime. Friends and family have been unable to contact her since her husband’s funeral, raising concerns about her safety.
As The Washington Post reported this week, Chinese authorities are vehemently opposed to naming a street for Liu Xiaobo. Moving ahead with Mr. Cruz’s legislation could be an effective way to remind China that Ms. Liu’s fate is an important issue for the United States.
Critics have argued that renaming the street is a largely symbolic gesture. They are right. That doesn’t mean it is not worth doing. Someday, we hope, Chinese officials representing a different sort of government will step out of their embassy onto Liu Xiaobo Plaza and take pride in a compatriot who sacrificed everything for the country they hold so dear.