'How Ironic it is that the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate is Threatening to Veto a Bill Honoring the 2010 One'

Contact: Senator Ted Cruz Press Office, 202-228-7561

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today responded to the Obama administration's threat to veto his bill to rename the plaza in front of the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. as "Liu Xiaobo Plaza," after pro-democracy dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Liu Xiaobo. The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the bill on Friday, and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) has introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"The Obama administration's veto threat is yet another outrageous example of its eagerness to coddle an authoritarian Communist regime at the expense of pro-American dissidents," said Sen. Cruz. "The pattern started weeks after President Obama was sworn in when Hillary Clinton travelled to Beijing to reassure the Chinese that they would put human rights on the back burner so they wouldn't interfere with climate change negotiations. It continued last September when the White House put barriers up around the formal reception for President Xi so the Chinese would not be offended by the sight of protesters across the street exercising their First Amendment rights. And it continued Friday when the White House threatened to veto my bill to rename the street outside the People's Republic of China (PRC) embassy 'Liu Xiaobo Plaza' in honor of the world's only jailed Nobel laureate -- despite the fact that it had just passed unanimously through the Senate. Sadly, President Obama and his administration would rather stand with the communist Chinese than with Dr. Liu, whose only crime was to peacefully protest for basic political freedoms. What Obama and Clinton didn't understand in 2009 and they don't understand today is that the moral high ground enjoyed by the United States is an advantage when dealing with a country like China, not something to be voluntarily abandoned. How ironic it is that the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate is threatening to veto a bill honoring the 2010 one. The PRC should be on notice that the obsequiousness of the U.S. administration will end in January, 2017."

Sen. Cruz has spearheaded the effort to rename the plaza in Dr. Liu's honor since 2014, and delivered speeches on the Senate floor in September, October, and November of 2015 to call attention to Dr. Liu's plight and human rights abuses in communist China. While seeking passage of his legislation on the Senate floor, Sen. Cruz also highlighted a similar successful effort by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to rename the street in front of the Soviet embassy 'Sakharov Plaza' after Soviet dissident and human rights activist Andrei Sakharov during the height of the Cold War.