China urges veto over naming US plaza after Liu Xiaobo

1:29:00 PM
A pro-democracy demonstrator holds a portrait of jailed Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo during a protest to call for the freeing of Chinese dissidents outside the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong, China 25 December 2015.Image copyrightReuters
Image captionPro-democracy demonstrators called for Liu's release in a December rally in Hong kong
Beijing has urged the US to veto a move to rename the street outside China's embassy in Washington after jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo, calling it a "political farce".
The Senate passed a bill to rename the square on Friday, but it still needs congress and presidential approval.
Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the bill violated accepted norms of international relations.
Liu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is in jail in China for subversion.

'Severe consequences'

The bill, introduced by Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz, was passed in the Republican-dominated Senate on Friday.
It will still need approval from the House of Representatives and the president before it passes into law.
Many believe that is unlikely, but if it does, the Chinese embassy's address would change from 3505 International Plaza to 1 Liu Xiaobo Plaza.
On Tuesday Mr Hong told reporters that the the bill "violates the basic norms of international relations. China firmly opposes that."
"If this bill is passed into law, it would cause severe consequences. We urge the US Congress to stop the approval procedure of the bill. We also hope that the US administration can put an end to this political farce."
Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, with the Nobel committee citing his fight for "a more open and democratic China". He was jailed the year before.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at a rally Tuesday, 16 February2016, in Anderson, S.C.Image copyrightAP
Image captionThe bill was introduced by Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz

Republican moves

Mr Cruz has argued that the move is necessary to make a stand on China's wrongful imprisonment of dissidents.
He has likened it to a 1980s decision to rename the street in front of the Soviet Embassy in Washington was named after dissident Andrei Sakharov.
It is not the first time Republicans have attempted to rename the street.
Mr Cruz had previously attempted to introduce the bill twice last year, but both times was blocked by Democrat senator Dianne Feinstein, who argued that diplomacy would be a better way to negotiate the release of dissidents.
In 2014, Republican representative Frank Wolf proposed an amendment to a state department budget bill, but it was eventually dropped.  http://www.bbc.com/

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