US Senate angers Beijing by passing 'provocative' bill to name plaza in front of Chinese embassy after dissident Liu Xiaobo

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An activist dresses up as Liu Xia, wife of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, outside the Central Government's liaison office in Hong Kong’s Western District in this 2014 file photo. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Published: 11:28am, 13 Feb 2016Updated: 11:28am, 13 Feb 2016

The US Senate on Friday backed a plan to name a plaza in front of the Chinese embassy for a pro-democracy dissident after what congressional sources called a tit-for-tat deal that led Senator Ted Cruz to stop blocking President Barack Obama’s diplomatic nominations.

By unanimous voice vote, the Senate approved a bill introduced by Cruz, a leading contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, to name the plaza in Washington after Liu Xiaobo, a Nobel peace prize winner.

“It’s provocative and counterproductive. We strongly urge the US.side to stop such actions,” Chinese embassy spokesman Zhu Haiquan said in an emailed statement.

Cruz spokesman Phil Novack said the senator had ended his holds on nominees including Obama’s new ambassadors to Norway and Sweden and two top State Department officials.

The Senate also confirmed those nominations on Friday.

Senate rules allow any member to block a nomination by a procedure known as a “hold.” Cruz had imposed the holds last year after Washington and other world powers reached a deal with Iran in which it agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.