Criminal Nation

Liu Xiaobo: German anger at China over hospital videos
BBC News

Mr Liu is currently being treated in a hospital in China for liver cancer

Germany has issued a sharp rebuke to China after videos of Western doctors visiting ailing Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in hospital were posted online.
The German embassy in Beijing posted a statement accusing China of recording the visit against its wishes. 

One of the doctors was German.
The statement adds that Chinese security services, rather than doctors, are steering the dissident's treatment.
The Chinese authorities are yet to respond to the German statement.
Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo was serving a sentence of 11 years for subversion, but was moved from prison to a hospital last month with terminal liver cancer.
Following international pressure, Beijing allowed two doctors -- Markus Büchler from Germany and Joseph M Herman from the US -- to examine the dissident in the north-eastern Chinese city of Shenyang.
Over the weekend the doctors said he could go abroad for palliative care, directly contradicting Chinese medical experts who said previously that Mr Liu is too ill to travel.

What do the videos show?
There are at least two known video clips which were first posted online on Sunday by Chinese government-backed groups.
One video appears to shows the two Western doctors at Mr Liu's bedside, along with his wife Liu Xia as well as several Chinese doctors and nurses.
A second video, which Chinese state news outlet Global Times later republished on its website, appears to show the Western and Chinese doctors in a conference room.
In the first clip, a man thought to be Dr Büchler says the Chinese doctors are "very committed" to treating Mr Liu, while in the second he is heard saying: "I don't think we can do better medically than you do".
The videos have been met with scepticism from Chinese-language news outlets and blogs outside of mainland China.
The recordings were edited to cast the Chinese doctors in a positive light and lend credence to Beijing's argument that Mr Liu is too ill to be medically evacuated.
The fact that the videos were first posted on YouTube -- which is blocked in China -- has also prompted speculation that they were intended for a foreign audience.

What does Germany say?
Late on Monday, the German embassy in Beijing released a statement accusing "certain authorities" of making audio and video surveillance recordings of the visit, and then leaking them "selectively to certain Chinese state media outlets".
This, they said, constituted a breach of doctor-patient confidentiality.

Liu Xiaobo (left) is seen here with his wife Liu Xia (right) in this undated photo

The recordings were also "made against the expressed wishes of the German side, which were communicated in writing" before the visit.
"China's security organs are steering the process, not medical experts. This behaviour undermines trust in the authorities dealing with Mr Liu's case, which is vital to ensure maximum success of his medical treatment."
Separately, Mr Liu's lawyer Jared Genser told the BBC that it was "unfortunate and unsurprising that the Chinese government would be engaged in surveilling anybody who is having contact with Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia".

What has China said?
There has been no official response to the statement but on Monday China's foreign ministry said it "hopes relevant countries will respect China's sovereignty and will not use individual cases to interfere with China's internal affairs", when asked if Liu Xiaobo would be allowed to leave.
A Global Times editorial on Monday said Chinese authorities were "trying their best to treat Liu and have fulfilled their humanitarian obligations".
It accused foreign forces of "still squeezing Liu for their political goals in disregard of his critical condition".

What is Mr Liu's condition?
Liu Xiaobo, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, is said to be in critical condition. 

Last week the hospital said his liver functions were worsening.

Mr Liu is being treated at a hospital in the north-eastern Chinese city of Shenyang

Mr Genser has called for his immediate medical evacuation.
He told the BBC: "My view is that China could demonstrate itself to be a strong power, and one that is secure by allowing him to travel abroad for medical treatment."
"Instead, they seem to be afraid of this one man and his views on how China could evolve from being a single party system to being a multi-party democracy," he said.

Beijing’s Nobel Shame

Western doctors contradict China on Nobel laureate's cancer
BBC News

Supporters have appealed to China to allow Mr Liu to travel abroad for treatment

Two Western doctors have contradicted Chinese medical experts over the fate of a dying Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Liu Xiaobo, an imprisoned pro-democracy advocate, was moved to hospital while serving an 11-year jail term, because of his advanced terminal liver cancer.
His doctors in China say he is too ill to travel abroad for treatment, and must remain in China.
But medics from the US and Germany who examined Mr Liu disagree and say he could go abroad for palliative care.
Joseph Herman from the University of Texas' cancer centre and Markus Büchler of the University of Heidelberg surgery department, released a joint statement saying a medical evacuation would have to happen "as quickly as possible".

Friends of Liu Xiaobo and his wife say he is near death

"While a degree of risk always exists in the movement of any patient, both physicians believe Mr. Liu can be safely transported with appropriate medical evacuation care and support," they said.
Liu Xiaobo and his family have both asked that he be allowed to leave.
Mr Liu was a key leader in the famous Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, and has been a vocal advocate for full democracy in China since.
The state considers him a criminal dissident, and in 2009, sentenced him to 11 years in prison for subversive behaviour after he drafted a manifesto on democracy and human rights.
He was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 2010 for his "long and non-violent struggle".
"Through the severe punishment meted out to him, Liu has become the foremost symbol of this wide-ranging struggle for human rights in China," the Nobel Committee wrote.
He had more than three years remaining on his sentence when authorities moved him into a hospital.
Following his Nobel prize, Mr Liu's wife, a poet, was placed under house arrest, and has had her movements restricted ever since. 

She has never been charged with a crime.

The love that survived a Chinese labour camp

"I found all the beauty in the world in this one woman."
Their wedding banquet was in the labour camp's cafeteria, a scenario that would prove to be symbolic. 

Throughout their intense romance, the Chinese government was a relentless and interfering third wheel, the uninvited partner providing a constant backdrop to their interactions.
By all accounts, Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia were inseparable, except when they were forcibly separated.