コロナ警鐘の武漢医師の名、中国大使館前の通りに　米議会に改称案

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米議員団は7日、新型コロナウイルスの流行について警鐘を鳴らし、警察から訓戒処分を受けた中国・武漢の李文亮医師の名を、在米中国大使館前の通りに付ける法案を上下両院に提出した。中国政府の猛反発は必至だ。（写真は米カリフォルニア大学ロサンゼルス校（UCLA）に掲示された李文亮医師の遺影）
　この法案は、これまで「インターナショナル・プレース」という当たり障りのない名前で呼ばれていた米首都ワシントンの中国大使館前の通りを、「李文亮プラザ」に改称するもの。
　李医師は昨年１２月、重症急性呼吸器症候群（ＳＡＲＳ）ウイルスに似たウイルスが武漢市内で広がっているとソーシャルメディアに投稿した医師の一人。このため警察から訓戒処分を受け、今後は「違法行為」をしないとする合意書への署名を強制された。
　今年２月に李医師が新型コロナウイルスで死亡すると、国民からは悲しみと政府の危機対応への怒り、言論の自由に対する強い要求が湧き起こり、警察は李医師の処遇について異例の謝罪をした。
　対中タカ派として知られるトム・コットン上院議員（共和党）は、「李文亮医師の死の責任を負う国の大使館前にその名を永遠に刻むことで、李医師の名が決して忘れられることのないようにしたい」と述べた。マルコ・ルビオ上院議員もこの法案を支持している。
　米国では２０１４年にも、民主化運動を率いて投獄されたノーベル平和賞受賞作家の劉暁波氏にちなんで通りを改称する法案が提出された。
　しかし、中国の反発を受けて、当時のバラク・オバマ政権が中国政府との協力を考慮し、拒否権の行使をほのめかしたため、この法案は下院で廃案となった。
　一部の中国人らはこの後、在中米国大使館前の通りを、米政府による大規模な情報収集活動を暴露し、亡命生活を送る米国家安全保障局元職員のエドワード・スノーデン容疑者にちなんで改称しようと提案した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/05/11-13:20）

US lawmakers on Thursday proposed renaming the street in front of China's embassy after the late Wuhan doctor punished after warning about the new coronavirus, a step sure to outrage Beijing.
The measure would rechristen the section of the Washington street in front of the embassy Li Wenliang Plaza instead of the innocuous current name of International Place.
Li was one of a group of doctors who shared posts on social media in December warning that a virus was spreading in Wuhan.
He was reprimanded by police and made to sign a statement promising not to commit any more law-breaking actions.
He died from the illness in February, triggering a nationwide outpouring of grief and a rare apology by police for his treatment.
We'll ensure the name Li Wenliang is never forgotten -- by placing it permanently outside the embassy of the nation responsible for the deaths Dr Li tried to prevent, said Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican known for his hawkish views on China.
The measure, also backed by Senator Marco Rubio, was introduced simultaneously in both chambers of Congress.
Lawmakers similarly proposed in 2014 to rename the street after Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Prize-winning writer who was imprisoned after calling for democratic reforms.
China denounced that effort and the proposal died in the House of Representatives after then president Barack Obama's administration indicated he would veto it for the sake of cooperation with Beijing.
The US relationship with China has sharply deteriorated since then, with lawmakers of both parties backing a tough stance against the Pacific power.
President Donald Trump's administration has repeatedly sought to blame China for the spread of the pandemic, which has since killed more than 250,000 people worldwide.
Critics say Trump is trying to deflect attention from his handling of the crisis in the United States, which has suffered by far the highest number of COVID-19 deaths of any country.
China is not the only nation targeted by such symbolic action.
The City Council in Washington in 2018 named a block outside the Russian embassy after Boris Nemtsov, one of President Vladimir Putin's most vocal critics, who was shot dead in Moscow in 2015.
After the US proposal on Liu Xiaobo, some Chinese proposed naming the street outside the US embassy in Beijing after Edward Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who fled the United States to unveil government snooping on its citizens.
The US consulate in the Indian city of Kolkata, a stronghold of communists, lies on a street named after Vietnamese revolutionary Ho Chi Minh.