Widow of coronavirus whistle-blower doctor Li Wenliang opposes US plan to name street outside Chinese embassy after him
- Fu Xuejie writes on social media that she does not want her husband’s case sensationalised after Republicans in Congress tabled bill to change road’s name
- Li’s death from Covid-19 triggered wave of anger in China after it emerged he had been disciplined by police for warning colleagues of outbreak
The widow of Li Wenliang, the doctor punished for warning colleagues about the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan, has criticised a proposal by US politicians to name a street in front of the Chinese embassy in Washington after her late husband.
Fu Xuejie wrote on social media she did not want to see people sensationalising her husband’s case.
Li, 34, was reprimanded by police for warning his colleagues about the then-unknown respiratory disease, which later killed him.
“I am saddened after hearing the news … Wenliang was a Communist Party member, and he loved his motherland deeply. If he knew, he would not allow other people to use his name to hurt his motherland,” she wrote.
Li’s death in early February stirred up a national outpouring of grief and anger at the government.
But Beijing quickly moved to portray him as a national hero and sent a team to investigate his death.