appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

Nectar Gan

The Chinese authorities have agreed to invite foreign medical experts, including from the United States and Germany, to help treat the jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, amid mounting pressure calling for his treatment abroad.
The calls come as President Xi Jinping is preparing to take part in the G20 summit in Germany later this week.
The hospital where Liu is receiving treatment in Shenyang in northeastern Liaoning province will “invite the most authoritative international therapists from the United States, Germany and other countries to China” to join a team of Chinese doctors treating Liu, a statement on the city’s justice bureau website said on Wednesday.
Liu Xiaobo’s family want his cancer treated outside China
The invitation to foreign doctors was made at the request of his family and in consultation with his Chinese doctors, according to the statement.
However, a friend of Liu’s in contact with his family said they still insisted he should be treated abroad.
Liu, China’s most famous political prisoner, was sentenced to 11 years behind bars in 2009 for “inciting subversion of state power”. He had signed a petition known as “Charter 08” with other rights activists calling for sweeping political reforms on the mainland.
The 61-year-old was granted medical parole after he was diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer in May.
Doubts arise over Chinese Nobel winner Liu Xiaobo’s inability to travel for cancer treatment
Liu’s friend Mo Zhixu, a columnist and early signatory of the charter, said the invitation to foreign doctors was made by the authorities to ease mounting pressure at home and abroad by friends, rights groups and diplomats calling for Beijing to grant Liu the freedom to go overseas for treatment.
“The timing of the announcement is definitely not a coincidence,” Mo said, referring to the G20 summit starting on Friday. Xi arrived in Germany on Tuesday.
Video apparently shows terminally ill Liu Xiaobo’s prison life
Mo said the invitation was a “convenient tool” for Xi to respond to any potential criticism at the summit over China’s treatment of Liu.
Liu’s friends, relatives and rights groups have criticised the authorities, accusing them of providing him with insufficient care behind bars.
Rights activist Hu Jia, another long-time friend of Liu, said the foreign doctors offer was a “compromise and concession” by Beijing in face of growing pressure.
He added that it was a “U-turn” from the government’s position last week, stating that foreign doctors were not allowed to practise in China.
Allowing foreign medical experts to help in Liu’s treatment would, however, make the kind of care he receives and his health condition more transparent, said Hu.
Liu Xiaobo ‘reunited with family outside jail for first time in 8 years’
“The authorities should have no right to restrict independent foreign medical experts from releasing information about Liu to foreign authorities, medical institutions and the public,” he said.
Liu’s friend Mo, who saw the jailed activist’s family in Shenyang over the weekend, said they had not changed their minds on wanting Liu to receive care overseas.
“They insisted he should go abroad because China’s medical standards were not as high as those in the West, especially in the area of experimental therapies.
“Moreover, if Liu can go abroad, he can break free of the current confinement and be in a better mood, which is also conducive to recovery,” he said.
Who is China’s Liu Xiaobo and what’s his story?
Mo travelled to Shenyang with another friend Wen Kejian to try to visit Liu in hospital, but failed on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. Mo said a nurse told them on Tuesday the hospital’s staff had no knowledge of such a patient, despite people asking about Liu’s ward everyday over the past week.
How China ensured a lasting legacy for Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo
The Chinese authorities told diplomats from Germany, the United States and the European Union on Friday that Liu could not be moved abroad due to his condition, sources briefed on the matter told the Reuters news agency.
The United States and the European Union have called on Beijing to allow Liu to choose where he wants to be treated.
China’s foreign ministry has so far dismissed concerns from other countries about Liu, at least publicly, saying it was an internal matter for China.
Salil Shetty, secretary general of Amnesty International, said ­inviting US and German doctors to consult on Liu’s case appeared to be “an attempt to limit international criticism”.
“Time is running out for Liu Xiaobo. It is not too late for the authorities to end this cruel farce. They must let Liu Xiaobo and his wife, Liu Xia, travel abroad to get the medical treatment he so desperately needs,” Shetty said.
Additional reporting by Mimi Lau



One-party rule contradicts constitution, anti-China activist tells subversion trial

Trump’s push for the Nobel Peace Prize won’t sway us, says committee

Degraded Nobel Peace Prize standards could mean Trump deserves one

Books about June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown grow scarce in Hong Kong

Liu Xiaobo

Beijing to let foreign doctors treat Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo’s cancer in China

An undated file picture of Liu Xiaobo taken before he was jailed. Photo: EPA

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. Liu Xiaobo has been released from prison on medical parole after being diagnosed earlier June 2017 with late-stage liver cancer and is being treated in a hospital in the northeastern city of Shenyang. He had been more than half-way through an 11-year sentence after being convicted in 2009 on subversion charges. (Photo via AP)

News

China

Politics

Overseas experts to join team of Chinese doctors treating the jailed former political activist in hospital, but his family still want him to be treated abroad, friend says


Human rights in China