UK and EU urges China to allow Liu Xiaobo to travel for medical treatment

By Lobsang Tenchoe

DHARAMSALA, July 10: Britain and the European Union has joined the growing call for China to release dying dissident and Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo.

Amidst reports of Liu Xiaobo’s deteriorating health after he was diagnosed with a late-stage liver cancer in May, Britain and the European Union have expressed serious concern at the treatment of Liu Xiaobo by the Chinese authorities, reports The Guardian.

“We continue to urge the Chinese authorities to ensure Liu Xiaobo has access to his choice of medical treatment, in a location of his choice, and to lift all restrictions on him and his wife Liu Xia,” the spokesperson for the British embassy in Beijing was quoted as saying in the report.

According to the report, a spokesperson of the EU delegation in Beijing has discussed the activist’s case with the authorities and asked China to immediately grant Mr Liu parole on humanitarian grounds and allow him to receive medical assistance at a place of his choosing in China or overseas.

The call by the UK and EU came a day after two foreign doctors who were allowed to visit the dissident in the hospital declared that the Chinese Noble Peace laureate was well enough to be moved overseas notwithstanding the Chinese claims.

According to the report, Jared Genser, an American lawyer who represents Liu and is lobbying for his evacuation has expressed a desire to receive treatment in Germany or the United States and the hospitals in both the countries are ready and willing to take him in.

With his client having been declared well enough to be moved oversea, Genser called on Chinese president Xi Jinping to immediately free his client.

“President Xi should honour a dying man’s wishes to be able to leave China and to obtain better treatment that is available abroad and could extend Liu’s life by several weeks,” Genser was quoted as saying in the report.