Chinese dissident Liu Xia, widow of Liu Xiaobo, speaks out in New York

Record ID: 1358179

  • Title: Chinese dissident Liu Xia, widow of Liu Xiaobo, speaks out in New York
  • Date: 27th September 2018
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 26, 2018) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** ZOOM OF PANEL AT VACLAV HAVEL LIBRARY FOUNDATION FOR "THE POWER OF THE POWERLESS IN CHINA PANEL DISCUSSION," FEATURING FROM LEFT, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR, ANDREW NATHAN, NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR DEMOCRACY PRESIDENT, CARL GERSHMAN, CHINESE DISSIDENT LIAO YIWU, TRANSLATOR WEN HUANG, CHINESE DISSIDENT AND WIDOW OF LIU XIAOBO, LIU XIA, INTO LIU (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE DISSIDENT AND WIDOW OF LIU XIAOBO, LIU XIA, SAYING: "One of the questions (the Kafka office in Prague which sent a message to Liu Xiabo while he was in jail) asked is if someday you returned to die and whether he has the power to rally the public. And I told him that I don't think I can see that day to come. And then he laughed." WIDE OF PANEL (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE DISSIDENT, LIAO YIWU, SAYING: "We can already agree with what Liu Xiabo said; last year when all the world leaders gathered in Hamburg, only Angela Merkel mentioned his case. And China was in attendance. The rest of the world remained silent over the issue. Everybody was pulled over to China's market. We can see that market really does bring democracy, and right now the Chinese dictators have turned this market into a huge monstrous thing that is affecting the West. If the U.S. had not launched a trade war with China, it's impossible to tell if Liu Xiabo could have been allowed to leave China or not. On this case I know that most of the West doesn't particularly like Donald Trump. But, for this particular case, I am grateful to Donald Trump for launching a trade war and making it possible for Liu Xiabo to be released." GENERAL OF PANEL
  • Embargoed: 11th October 2018 03:04
  • Keywords: Liu Xiaobo Liu Xia Vaclav Havel House Chinese dissident Tiananmen Square
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Fundamental Rights/Civil Liberties,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0018Z9JDJB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Liu Xia, the widow of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize-winning political dissident Liu Xiaobo made a public appearance in New York Wednesday (September 26), her first formal appearance since settling in Berlin over the summer. Her relocation to Germany came after eight years of house arrest in China.
    Liu Xia, 57, spoke after more than a year of pressure on Beijing from activists and rights groups. Her speech at the Vaclav Havel House on the east side of Manhattan took place just some 30 blocks north of where the United Nations General Assembly is currently underway.
    She was joined in New York by her friend and fellow dissident, Liao Yiwu. Also speaking at the Vaclav Havel House, Liao spoke out stridently on the world's failure to act before Liu Xiabo was killed. Liao is set to be honored by the Vaclav Havel House for "Disturbing the Peace" as a "courageous writer."
    Liu Xia has moved to "start her new life" in Europe, her younger brother, Liu Hui said this summer via Chinese messaging app WeChat, according to a screenshot of the message shown to Reuters by a friend who declined to be identified.
    Liu Xia, a poet and artist who suffers from depression, had been under house arrest since 2010 when Liu Xiaobo, a veteran of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests who was jailed for 11 years in 2009 for inciting subversion, was awarded the Nobel.
    Liu Xia was never charged but was largely confined to her Beijing home. If she wanted to go shopping, she had to be escorted by police, a friend told Reuters.
    In May, Western diplomats tried to visit her in her home, but were turned away by security personnel, an official of one of the embassies involved told Reuters at the time.
    China had repeatedly said Liu Xia was free and accorded all rights guaranteed to her by law.
    Rights groups and Western nations had been raising pressure on Beijing over Liu Xia in recent months, as fears grew among rights groups that she might never be able to leave and live abroad, a wish she had made clear.
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