Beijing condemns bid to name plaza after criminal

Beijing has demanded that Washington halt the progress of a bill aimed at renaming the plaza in front of the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, after Liu Xiaobo, a convicted Chinese criminal.

Liu was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 for engaging in activities aimed at overthrowing the government.

He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. China considers the award reflects poorly on the Nobel Committee because Liu had been found guilty of criminal acts against the State before the prize was announced.

Approval of the bill by the US Senate violated the basic norms of international relations, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Tuesday during a regular news conference. China firmly opposes the bill, he stressed.

If passed, the bill would have serious consequences, Hong said.

"We urge the US Congress to stop considering the bill," Hong said.

He called on the US authorities to stop "this political farce".

The bill, proposed by Republican senator and US presidential candidate Ted Cruz, was passed by the Senate on Friday, but it must also be approved by the House of Representatives and signed by the US president before it can become law.

If passed, the official address of the Chinese embassy would become Liu Xiaobo Plaza. The address now is 3503 International Place.

In return, some Chinese netizens have suggested naming the street in front of the US embassy in Beijing after Monica Lewinsky, who was involved in a sex scandal with former US president Bill Clinton, or after Edward Snowden, a US National Security Agency whistle blower.

Ren Yuanzhe, a leading researcher of international relationship studies at China Foreign Affairs University, said some Western politicians often linked Liu's case to so-called human rights issues, but China should not consider it a big deal as the bill was unlikely to pass.

"These politicians intended to outrage and shame Beijing by doing this," Ren said.

"But I think the American authorities are unlikely to pass the bill as we all know it is a direct provocation against China and an interference in our internal affairs."