China Briefing | Coming to Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo’s aid is perfect timing for new US ambassador to China

If diplomat Terry Branstad can secure the release of the cancer-stricken Nobel Peace Prize laureate, he can boost his status among top leaders in both countries

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US Ambassador to China Terry Branstad speaks to the media at his residence in Beijing. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 1:00pm, 2 Jul 2017Updated: 1:00pm, 2 Jul 2017

It may be a coincidence, but the timing of two news events last week is certainly interesting.

Just one day before the arrival in Beijing of Terry Branstad, the new US ambassador to China, the news broke on Monday that jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) had been granted medical parole after being diagnosed with liver cancer.

Liu was jailed in 2009 for 11 years on subversion charges for calling for greater democracy in China but awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the following year when he was represented by an empty chair at the award ceremony.

Liu’s lawyer Mo Shaoping said that Liu was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer on May 23 and the prison authorities said in a brief statement he was transferred to a hospital in Shenyang (瀋陽) of Liaoning ( 遼寧 ) province for treatment.

Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, left, and his wife Liu Xia. The United States urged China to grant Liu and his wife ‘freedom of movement’ and let him choose his own doctors after the cancer-stricken activist was taken from prison to a hospital. Photo: AFP

Although Mo reportedly said Liu did not plan to seek treatment overseas, international pressure on China to allow him to go is set to intensify in the coming weeks and months.

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