Chinese authorities on Thursday told U.S., German and European Union diplomats that Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist Liu Xiaobo can not be moved to get medical treatment elsewhere due to his illness, a source briefed on the meeting said.

Liu, 61, was jailed for 11 years in 2009 for "inciting subversion of state power" after he helped write a petition known as "Charter 08" calling for sweeping political reforms.

He is being treated in a hospital in the city of Shenyang for late-stage liver cancer after being granted medical parole, his lawyer said on Monday.