Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo. AP Photo

(CNSNews.com) - The Senate recently approved Sen. Ted Cruz’s bill to rename the area in front of China's embassy in Washington after imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, but the White House is reportedly prepared to veto the measure.

Cruz’s bill would rename the plaza in front of the Chinese embassy after pro-democracy dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Liu Xiaobo.

Dr. Liu and his wife, Liu Xia, have been imprisoned for seeking basic human rights denied to them by the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

During a Sept. 2015 speech on the Senate Floor, Cruz said renaming the plaza would put the issue in front of Chinese officials every day.

“The PRC officials will be forced to recognize the bravery of Dr. Liu and to acknowledge it dozens of times a day, day after day after day,” Cruz said.

The measure has a companion bill in the House that is yet to pass. Even it does, State Dept. Spokesperson Mark Toner has said the White House has indicated it will veto the legislation.

In the past, President Barack Obama has claimed to stand in “solidarity” with Dr. Liu.

During his remarks at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2014 Obama said, “We stand in solidarity with those who are detained at this very moment. In Venezuela, Leopoldo Lopez; in Burundi, Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa; in Egypt, Ahmed Maher; in China, Liu Xiaobo; and now Ilham Tohti; in Vietnam, Father Ly. And so many others. They deserve to be free. They ought to be released.”

The Associated Press reports that China has asked the administration to squash the bill.

"We demand the U.S. Congress stop reviewing the bill, and also hope the U.S. administration could put an end to such a political drama," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

A Communist Party-affiliated Chinese newspaper earlier this month called the senators behind the move to rename the street “vile characters.”