China livid over US plan to rename embassy street after dissident
Beijing slams ‘really absurd’ move to rename street in front of its
Washington embassy after imprisoned Chinese activist

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/6/25/china-dissident-washington.html

25 June, 2014

Chinese diplomats on Wednesday said Congress’ decision to rename the street
in front of Beijing’s embassy in the U.S. capital after a Chinese dissident
is "really absurd" and motivated by concerns not entirely related to human
rights.

On Tuesday the House Appropriations Committee voted to rename the street
outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., to “Liu Xiaobo Plaza” —
after a Chinese dissident who received the Nobel Peace Prize in absentia and
is currently serving an 11-year prison term for subverting the government’s
authority. Liu has called for an end to one-party rule in China.

The bipartisan move, led by Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., would effectively have
all correspondence sent to the Chinese Embassy addressed to No. 1 Liu Xiaobo
Plaza.

“This attempt driven by some personal interests runs counter to the joint
efforts by and interests of the vast majority of peoples in both China and
the United States to pursue a win-win cooperative partnership between our
countries,” Chinese Embassy spokesman Geng Shuang said.

“This amendment is really absurd.”

Wolf had not responded to an interview request from Al Jazeera at time of
publication.

U.S. trade union United Steelworkers (USW) was among the key proponents of
the bid to remind Chinese diplomats of the jailed dissident, according to a
statement released by Wolf’s office late Tuesday.

At the time of publication, USW had not answered questions regarding its
support for the renaming effort. But according to a copy of a letter sent to
Congress by USW President Leo W. Gerard, he said, “The fight for freedom,
democracy and human rights depends on people like Dr. Liu and our
willingness to stand by their sides.”

China has long been the world’s leading producer of crude steel and its top
steel exporter, according to the World Steel Association, ahead of the
European Union, Japan and the U.S.

The USW said it has on numerous occasions mounted efforts to protect
American industry and consumers from what it called subpar Chinese-produced
steel and other products, ranging from green technology to tires.

“What would be gained for [USW], I guess is the question,” said Elizabeth
Economy, U.S.-China relations expert at the Council on Foreign Relations,
adding that labor rights groups have a history of teaming up with proponents
of human rights.

Regardless of intentions, Economy said that renaming a street will not do
much to support political reform in China — an ongoing, albeit
controversial, project of the Xi Jinping administration, which has mounted a
massive crackdown on corruption in the public sector.

“By and large, what the U.S. says doesn’t really affect what the Chinese
government does. The Chinese government does what it wants to do with reform
in politics and human rights,” she said. “I just think you need to grant the
Chinese government more autonomy in its decision-making than perhaps you
are.”

Opponents of human rights advocates in China, including in Chinese state
media, have often criticized homegrown reform movements for receiving
support from the West. Analysts have said that Western administrations’ and
activists’ criticisms of China’s human rights situation have set back the
work of Chinese human rights advocates.

Gao Wenqian, New York–based senior policy adviser with the international
advocacy group Human Rights in China, disagrees with the idea that gestures
like Washington’s further the belief that the West has a monopoly on human
rights.

“China’s human rights situation must first and foremost rely on people on
the inside, but also depends on international support,” he said.

Like Economy, Gao believes that renaming the street in front of the embassy
after a dissident is a major show of support for democracy advocates in
China.

“This shows that [the U.S. Congress] cares about the popular movement in
China,” Gao said.

Supporters of the planned renaming cited a move in the 1980s by the
Washington, D.C., City Council to rename the street outside the Soviet
Embassy as Andrei Sakharov Plaza, after the noted Soviet dissident and human
rights advocate. The move was hailed as a major symbol of Washington’s
support for human rights internationally.

But Economy believes that, as Chinese diplomats indicated, the move will not
affect China’s domestic policy and will exacerbate perennial tensions
between the world’s two largest economies.

“I don’t think, frankly, that this symbolic act — clearly irritating — will
have any effect on Chinese policy,” she said.




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