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US: Nobel laureate should be allowed treatment outside China

Visitors pass by an ambulance outside the China Medical University No. 1 Affiliated Hospital where imprisoned Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate and dissident Liu Xiaobo is believed to have been transferred to after being diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer in Shenyang in northeastern China's Liaoning province, Tuesday, June 27, 2017. The deteriorating health of China's best-known political prisoner was immediately met with dismay and anger by the country's beleaguered community of rights activists and lawyers, who called it a blow to the democracy movement. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) Visitors pass by an ambulance outside the China Medical University No. 1 Affiliated Hospital where imprisoned Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate and dissident Liu Xiaobo is believed to have been transferred to after being diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer in Shenyang in northeastern China's Liaoning province, Tuesday, June 27, 2017. The deteriorating health of China's best-known political prisoner was immediately met with dismay and anger by the country's beleaguered community of rights activists and lawyers, who called it a blow to the democracy movement. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

By Associated Press June 27, 2017 1 min read

BEIJING (AP) – The newly arrived U.S. ambassador in Beijing says a Nobel Peace Prize laureate should be allowed to get treatment outside China after he was diagnosed with cancer while imprisoned for subversion.

Ambassador Terry Branstad said Wednesday that Chinese authorities should allow 61-year-old Liu Xiaobo to seek treatment elsewhere “if it would be of help.”

Branstad did not say if he’d spoken directly with Chinese authorities about the matter.

Liu was given a medical parole and hospitalized after being diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer on May 23.

The 2010 Peace Prize winner was serving an 11-year prison term for publishing a manifesto calling for an end to single-party rule in the Communist nation.

Human rights advocates have questioned if China’s authoritarian government gave Liu adequate care while he was incarcerated.