BEIJING
(Reuters) - Chinese Nobel Peace Prize-winning dissident Liu Xiaobo is in
critical condition and his breathing is failing, the hospital treating him said
on
Wednesday.
Liu, a
prominent participant in the Tiananmen pro-democracy protests of 1989, was
jailed for 11 years in 2009 for "inciting subversion of state power"
after helping to write a petition known as "Charter 08" calling for
sweeping political reforms.
He was
recently moved from jail to a hospital to be treated for late-stage liver
cancer.
Liu's kidney
and liver functions are failing, and he suffers from blood clots, among other
ailments, the hospital in the city of Shenyang said on its website.
However,
Liu's family has declined the use of intubation machinery to help him breathe
with the aid of a plastic tube in his windpipe, the hospital said.
"The
patient is in a critically ill condition, the hospital is doing all it can to
save him, and his family members understand the situation and have given their
signatures," it added, without elaborating.
The
announcement suggested a significant deterioration in Liu's health since early
on Wednesday, when the hospital said he was being treated for worsening liver
function, septic shock and organ dysfunction.
Rights
groups and Western government have urged China to allow Liu and his wife, Liu
Xia, to leave the country to be treated abroad, as Liu has said he wants.
But the
government has warned against interference and has said Liu is being treated by
renowned Chinese cancer experts.
Liu's
international counsel Jared Genser told Reuters that getting him out of China
for treatment was a realistic possibility if approval was granted soon.
"But
time is of the essence," he said. "Every moment that passes makes
that possibility more difficult.
White House
spokeswoman Sarah Sanders repeated a call for Liu to be free to travel abroad
for treatment.
"We
remain concerned that Mr. Liu and his family are unable to communicate with the
outside world and that he is not free to seek the medical treatment of his
choosing," she told a regular news briefing.
A White House
official said U.S. President Donald Trump raised Liu's case in a July 2
telephone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, while the U.S. national
security adviser, H.R. McMaster, raised it with his Chinese counterpart at the
G20
John Kamm,
of the San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation, which promotes prisoners' rights
in China, said that based on what he had heard from official and unofficial
sources, "I do not think the chance that (Liu) will be allowed to leave
China for medical treatment is big."
China's
state-backed Global Times tabloid said the "confrontational tone" of
those in the West voicing their opinions on Liu failed to focus on his illness.
"China
has already taken the feelings of relevant Western forces into consideration,
and has no obligation to meet their unreasonable demands," it said.
The
government allowed two foreign doctors, from the United States and Germany, to
visit Liu on Saturday and they later said they considered it was safe for him
to be moved overseas.
After the
doctors' Sunday statement, China released short videos of their visit,
apparently taken without their knowledge, in which the German doctor appeared
to praise the care Liu had received.
'Keep
Calling'
Hu Jia, a
dissident and friend of Liu's, said he was deeply saddened to hear the news of
his worsening condition but vowed to do all he could to push for Liu's freedom.
"So
long as Liu is still breathing and conscious, we should keep calling for him to
be released and go abroad with Liu Xia, even if it is the last thing he
does," Hu said.
Taiwan's
President Tsai Ing-wen said on Twitter that the self-ruled island, which China
claims as its own, called on Beijing to free Liu and Taiwan was willing to
provide medical assistance.
Liu's
friends voiced suspicion about the hospital's earlier statement, which
suggested a worsening of his health soon after two foreign doctors said he was
well enough to travel abroad.
"We do
not know how reliable these accounts are, or if they mean Liu Xiaobo cannot
travel," one family friend told Reuters, declining to be identified
because of the sensitivity of the situation.
No one
answered the telephone at the hospital's publicity department on Wednesday.
In Hong
Kong, about 50 protesters sat outside the Beijing representative office
surrounded by placards demanding Liu's release. Some protesters had been there
for third day.
"I feel
scared. If we lose Liu Xiaobo, nobody could replace him," said 17-year-old
student Anson Hui. "If there's no Liu Xiaobo we can't unite the whole
world to speak out ... The world will lose a spiritual leader."
Reuters
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