Hospital: Ailing China Nobel laureate in critical condition
BEIJING — Chinese doctors were working to treat critically ill Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, as the government hardened its position against growing pleas to allow China’s best-known political prisoner to leave for treatment overseas.
A stark update issued Monday evening by Liu’s hospital said he was suffering from poor kidney function and bleeding in the liver from metastasizing tumors. It heightened pressure on Beijing, which has resisted appeals from several nations to let Liu and his family go.
A foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, asked other countries at a daily news briefing “to respect China’s national sovereignty and refrain from interfering in its domestic affairs due to an individual case.” On Monday the office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked Beijing for a “signal of humanity for Liu Xiaobo and his family.”
In late June the dissident was transferred from prison to a hospital because of advanced liver cancer. Supporters and Western governments urged China to allow Liu to choose where he wanted to be treated and to release him. Beijing has resisted, citing Liu’s fragile health and saying he is receiving the best possible care in China.