The United States said Thursday that its ambassador to Norway will attend the Nobel peace prize ceremony for jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiabo, as it renewed calls for Beijing to free him.
China has kept up a barrage of criticism of the award to Liu, who will be unable to attend Friday's ceremony in Oslo, insisting the vast majority of countries oppose the move to hand the prize to a man it considers a criminal.
"US Ambassador Barry White will attend the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony, reaffirming the importance that the United States places on the Nobel award," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.
The United States welcomes the Nobel committee's decision to award Liu the peace prize and praises "Liu's courageous advocacy for political reform and fundamental freedoms," Crowley said.
"And we urge China to uphold its international rights, human rights work obligations and to respect the fundamental freedoms and human rights of all Chinese citizens," he said.
"And we continue to call for Mr. Liu's immediate release," he added.
Liu, 54, was jailed in December 2009 for 11 years on subversion charges after co-authoring Charter 08, a bold petition calling for reform in Communist-ruled China.
Speaking to reporters later at the State Department, Clinton gave blander remarks when she was asked for comment on his case.
"We have made our position very clear to the Chinese government. The United States will be represented at the Nobel Prize ceremony, although neither the recipient nor his wife will be permitted to travel," she said.
"We continue to encourage the Chinese to open up their own political space for a greater exchange of opinions and advocacy of ideas," the chief US diplomat said.
"We raise human rights in every meeting that we have between the United States and China and we will continue to do so," she said.
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