Why China is embarrassed by Nobel peace laureate's widow

IN the month since the death of Liu Xiaobo, China's Nobel peace laureate, world attention has shifted to focus on the fate of his widow, Liu Xia, who had been kept under illegal house arrest ever since her husband was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2010 while serving an 11-year prison term for "inciting subversion of state power".

Liu Xia, a poet and artist, has not been seen in public since her husband died of liver cancer on July 13. The authorities quickly had him cremated and his ashes disposed of at sea, presumably so that there would not be a grave to which his supporters could go to pay their respects.

World leaders have called on China to allow his widow to go abroad. This, indeed, was his dying wish and it appears to be hers as well.