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Robert Delaney

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called on Beijing to allow Liu Xia, the wife of deceased Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, to leave the country.
Tillerson made the request in a statement issued hours after news of Liu Xiaobo’s death, setting up a confrontation that will extend beyond the dissident’s funeral.
Liu Xiaobo – the quiet, determined teller of China’s inconvenient truths
“I join those in China and around the world in mourning the tragic passing of 2010 Nobel Peace prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died while serving a lengthy prison sentence in China for promoting peaceful democratic reform,” the statement cited Tillerson as saying.

“I call on the Chinese government to release Liu Xia from house arrest and allow her to depart China, according to her wishes.”
Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo dies at 61
Liu Xiaobo died in a northern Chinese hospital of multiple organ failure on Thursday, Shenyang justice authorities announced in a statement.

In his fight for freedom and equality in #China, Liu Xiaobo embodied spirit of @NobelPrize. Our thoughts are with his wife and loved ones. pic.twitter.com/9cEmWTzH4A
— Heather Nauert (@statedeptspox) July 13, 2017

<![CDATA[// ><!]]>

The Nobel laureate, 61, was granted medical parole last month after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer in late May following a “routine check-up”, according to the Shenyang Justice Bureau. News of his illness did not become public until the end of June.
China’s response to Tillerson’s request will be a key test for the relationship between the two countries ahead of President Donald Trump’s expected visit with President Xi Jinping in China in November.
The importance of a successful summit and the need for stability ahead of the 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party might convince the government to release Liu Xia.
‘Live on well’: fury, farewells and Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo’s last words to his wife
“While they’re very obdurate about individuals who have put fingers in their eyes, the Party might have more flexibility when it comes to a spouse or a relative,” Orville Schell, director of the Asia Society’s Centre on US-China Relations in New York, said in an interview.
“If they don’t release [Liu Xia], it’s a sign that things are more in a state of retrograde motion than we had imagined in terms of state control.”
Schell was referring to moves such as Beijing’s crackdown on virtual private networks – connections that bypass the country’s notorious “Great Firewall” – in an effort to block content not approved by government censors.

“One of the things [the Chinese government doesn’t] adequately appreciate, but are coming to appreciate more, is the degree to which American public opinion is being alienated,” Schell added. “Xi Jinping does recognise that the United States is an important player in China’s rise and that for better or worse it has to be managed well.”
Others say the timing of the 19th Party Congress will stiffen Xi’s resolve to defy any entreaties from Washington.
How China buys the silence of the world’s human rights critics
“I think that there is zero likelihood that Liu Xia will be allowed to leave the People’s Republic of China before the 19th Party Congress in the fall,” Carl Minzner, a Fordham University law professor specialising in Chinese law and governance, told the South China Morning Post.
“Even in the best of times, the elite political atmosphere in China during such leadership transitions is intensely sensitive, rendering Chinese leaders hesitant to take any risks exposing them to criticism from domestic political rivals.”




The White House released a statement in support of Liu Xia a few hours after Tillerson’s.
“The President’s heartfelt condolences go out to Liu Xiaobo’s wife, Liu Xia, and his family and friends”, according to the White House Press Office announcement. “A poet, scholar, and courageous advocate, Liu Xiaobo dedicated his life to the pursuit of democracy and liberty.”
US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley added to Washington’s effort to draw attention to Liu Xia.
How can China become a tech leader if it’s intolerant of free thought?
 “Liu Xiaobo used the power of his voice, knowing he would face retribution, so future generations would have, as he said in his 2010 Nobel lecture, ‘a nation ruled by law, where human rights reign supreme’,” Haley said in a statement.
“My thoughts and prayers go out to his beloved wife Liu Xia, herself under house arrest, his family and countrymen, and citizens of the world.”

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Liu Xiaobo

Tillerson urges Beijing to let Liu Xiaobo’s wife leave the country, setting up confrontation

The US Secretary of State said he mourns ‘tragic passing’ of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died ‘promoting peaceful democratic reform’

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson attends a joint news conference with Qatar's foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani in Doha, Qatar, July 11, 2017. REUTERS/Naseem Zeitoon

In this recent undated handout photo, Chinese dissident and Nobel Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, left, is attended to by his wife Liu Xia in a hospital in China. The judicial bureau in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang says jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo has died of multiple organ failure Thursday, July 13, 2017, at age 61. (Photo via AP, File)

A man writes a message at a makeshift memorial in tribute to late Chinese Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, outside the Chinese Liason Office in Hong Kong on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Liu Xiaobo – the quiet, determined teller of China’s inconvenient truths

Dissident, Liu Xiaobo, won Nobel the Peace Prize in 2010 for ‘long and non-violent struggle’ for human rights. Illustration: Henry Wong

Chairman of the Nobel Committee Thorbjoern Jagland looks down at the reserved vacant chair of Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo (portrait at left), on which Jagland placed the Nobel Peace Prize diploma and gold medal during the ceremony for the Nobel Laureate and dissident Liu Xiaobo at the city hall in Oslo, December 10, 2010. With the guest of honour stuck in a Chinese prison, this year's Nobel Peace Prize ceremony centred around an empty chair, as its celebration of dissident Liu Xiaobo continues to split the global community and infuriate Beijing. AFP PHOTO/SCANPIX/POOL/Heiko Junge

Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia pose in this undated photo released by his family on October 3, 2010. Imprisoned Chinese pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize on October 8, 2010, an announcement that Beijing had anticipated and bitterly criticised. REUTERS/Handout (CHINA - Tags: POLITICS) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Song writer and pro-democracy activist Hou dejian (R) with three other fellow dissidents, academic Liu Xiaobo (2nd from R), official at a computer company Zhou Duo (3rd from R) and editor Gao Xin (4th from R), talks to journalists in front of the Monument to People's Heroes on Tiananmen before begining their hunger strike during the pro-democracy student movement, June 2, 1989. REUTER

epa06056145 An activist holds a portrait of jailed Chinese Nobel rights activist Liu Xiaobo during a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong, China, 29 June 2017. The vigil was organized to support patriotic democratic movements in China. Activists also demanded to release Chinese Nobel rights activist Liu Xiaobo. Chinese President Xi Jinping started a three-day visit to Hong Kong to inaugurate a new Hong Kong Chief Executive and to mark the 20th anniversary of the city's handover from British to Chinese rule on 01 July. EPA/ROMAN PILIPEY

Members of the public take part in the New Year's march for democracy organised by the pan-democrats from Central to the Central People's Government Liaison Office in Western demanding the release of mainland dissident Liu Xiaobo, the scrapping of functional constituencies, and universal suffrage in 2012. 01JAN10

‘Live on well’: fury, farewells and Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo’s last words to his wife

Friends, fellow activists and supporters hail the life and work of Liu Xiaobo as Western governments step up calls for his wife to be allowed to leave China

Vigil at liaison office for Liu Xiaobo

epa06085553 People place flowers and light candles in front of a picture of Chinese dissident and civil rights activist Liu Xiaobo, outside the Nobel's Peace center in Oslo, Norway, 13 July 2017. According to media reports on 13 July 2017, citing official sources, Liu Xiaobo has died aged 61. EPA/Audun Braastad NORWAY OUT

Chinese doctor Liu Yun Peng speaks to journalists during apress comference after the death of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo in Shenyang, Liaoning province, on July 13, 2017. Liu Xiaobo, 61, one of China’s most famous pro-democracy advocates and political prisoners, just died in Chinese custody at a hospital / AFP PHOTO / FRED DUFOUR

Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo died in Shenyang on Thursday, aged 61. Photo: Reuters

Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo dies at 61

Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo has died, aged 61. He was diagnosed with liver cancer in May. Photo: Handout

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The US Secretary of State said he mourns ‘tragic passing’ of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died ‘promoting peaceful democratic reform’


Tillerson urges Beijing to let Liu Xiaobo’s wife leave the country, setting up confrontation

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The US Secretary of State said he mourns ‘tragic passing’ of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died ‘promoting peaceful democratic reform’

The US Secretary of State said he mourns ‘tragic passing’ of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, who died ‘promoting peaceful democratic reform’