The People's Republic of China expressed anger over plans to change the name of a Washington, D.C., street (where the Chinese Embassy is) to that of an imprisoned democracy activist that has been critical of the communist country, as reported by the Daily Caller.
The Senate bill would change the address of the Chinese Embassy from 3505 International Place to 1 Liu Xiaobo Plaza.
The bill is sponsored by Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz. On Feb. 12, the legislation unanimously went through the Senate, only drawing flak from the Chinese government on Tuesday, Feb. 16.
Liu Xiaobo, a literary critic, professor and human rights activist, has been detained in Jinzhou Prison in Liaoning Province, China, since 2009 and is set to serve 11 years for being involved in the writing of "Charter 08," an anti-Communist manifesto.
Liu had already been imprisoned three other times in 1989, 1995 and 1996.
In 2010, Liu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for calling for political reforms that ends the communist single-party rule in China.
Cruz's bill has yet to pass through the United States House of Representatives, where a simple majority of representatives have to vote in favor, or else the bill dies.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has called the Senate bill a "political farce."
Dealing with China has been one of the most contentious issues of the 2016 presidential election. Several of the presidential candidates have spent a significant amount of their time talking about how to handle Chinese currency manipulation and how China has rejected the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal.
Mark C. Toner, deputy spokesman for the Department of State, told reporters on Tuesday that "it was his understanding" that President Barack Obama was set to veto the bill that would rename the street, believing it would do very little for human rights.