U.S. lawmakers angered Beijing Tuesday when they voted to rename a Washington street in front of the Chinese Embassy after the imprisoned Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.

Fourteen members of the House Appropriations Committee led by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) favored renaming the street in Northwest DC, formerly called International Place NW, to No. 1, Liu Xiaobo Plaza.

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China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying calls the move "farce" and "an attempt to smear China" in a news briefing on Wednesday.

"Some people in the United States have used so-called human rights and the Liu Xiaobo case to engage in meaningless sensationalism," she adds.

Hua reiterated that Liu was convicted in accordance with Chinese Law and criticized Washington's move as "provocative and ignorant".

Liu Xiaobo is a Chinese literary critic, writer, professor and human rights activist convicted for 'inciting subversion of state power' in December 2009 and was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment and two years deprivation of political rights.

In 2010, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his 'long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China'. He was the very first Chinese citizen to receive a Nobel while residing in China.

At the age of 58, Liu helped in drafting Charter 08, a pro-democracy petition that called on Beijing to end the one-party rule and uphold basic human rights.

The street renaming was part of an amendment to the State Department's spending bill, which proponents justified thus: "For purposes of United States Postal code, hereafter the proper address of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Washington, District of Columbia, shall be No. 1 Liu Xiaobo Plaza."

Lead proponent Rep. Wolf had earlier broached the idea to the District of Columbia government but the property was owned by the federal government so it was included in the amendments to the State Department's spending bill instead.

After news of the street renaming broke, observers took a jab at Washington, with some suggesting that China may retaliate by renaming the street where the U.S. Embassy in Beijing is into 'Snowden Avenue'.

TagsLiu Xiaobo, Liu Xiaobo Plaza, DC street renaming, China human rights