The United States says China should respect the rights of the wife of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo and allow her to move about freely.In a statement sent to news agencies Tuesday, a U.S. embassy spokesman in Beijing said the U.S. is concerned by “multiple reports that Liu Xia is being confined to her home.”Liu wrote on her Twitter account Monday that she was under house arrest and that her telephone communications had been cut off.A delegation of diplomats from 11 European Union countries tried unsuccessfully to visit her during the day. A spokesman said uniformed guards prevented the group from entering.EU political secretary Simon Sharpe said the delegation was told they could not enter the house unless someone came out to meet them. Sharpe said that was not possible because there was no way to telephone Liu.
VOA correspondent Stephanie Ho had the same experience when she and other reporters tried to visit Liu on Monday.China also canceled a scheduled meeting with the fisheries minister from Norway, home country to the committee that awards the Nobel Peace prize.China had warned previously that diplomatic relations with Norway would suffer if the prize was awarded to Liu Xiaobo, who is serving an 11-year prison term on charges of inciting subversion – Voanews
