Chen Guangcheng

[eaglethebeagle]

America the evil..... yes I agree ...... under obama this nation is turning into an evil dictatorship with no concern for human rights or for Americans our Constitutional rights.:thumbsdown:






By ABC NEWS BEIJING BUREAU
May 3, 2012
While blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng begs to depart Beijing on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's plane, U.S. officials today described his dramatic journey to the U.S. Embassy last week as a "mission impossible" operation.

U.S. officials say a rendezvous point was agreed upon several miles from the embassy. Chen was driven by a supporter in one car to meet a second, driven by the Americans. But en route to the location, the Americans realized they were possibly being followed.

In a rush, the two cars met in an alley. Chen was hastily pushed out of his vehicle and pulled in by the Americans before speeding back to the embassy.

But the satisfaction of his arrival soon gave way to anxious negotiations over his future. As Chen continues to ask to leave China, U.S. officials are defending the agreement they reached with Chen and the Chinese government.

U.S. officials believed they had reached an unprecedented diplomatic resolution after they escorted Chen to a Beijing hospital where he was reunited with his family. The United States, China and Chen had agreed he would be allowed to remain in China with his family to pursue a course of study at a Chinese university in Tianjin, about 70 miles southeast of Beijing.

U.S. officials say they were guaranteed the ability to monitor Chen's security and given assurances his supporters would not be prosecuted for helping him. Chen was to receive medical treatment for chronic ill health and injuries sustained during his escape.


Supporters of Chen Guangcheng/HO/AP Photo
Activist Chen Guangcheng, is seen in a... View Full Size

Chen Guangcheng Reunited With Family Watch Video

Chinese Dissident Escapes Arrest Watch Video

Blind China Activist Makes Mystery Escape Watch Video

But within a matter of hours, Chen, 40, claimed he had a change of heart. "I wanted to stay in China in the beginning," he told ABC News. "But now I have changed my mind."

Along with his family, he now wants "to leave for the U.S. on Hilary Clinton's plane."

Speaking to The Associated Press, Chen said the only reason he left the U.S. Embassy is because he was told the Chinese would kill his wife if he refused. In subsequent comments to multiple media outlets, including ABC News, he stepped back from that comment. He said the Chinese government "threatened me that if I don't leave the embassy, they will bring my family back to Shandong."

U.S. officials in Washington and Beijing confirmed that the Chinese conveyed the message that they would not allow his family to remain in Beijing if Chen did not leave. He was informed of this and soon after agreed to the deal and said he was ready to go. State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said that at no time did a U.S. official speak to Chen about physical or legal threats to his wife and children.

"He was never pressured to leave," U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke said today in Beijing, adding that Chen was asked at one point whether he wanted asylum and he declined.

"He was excited and eager when he made his decision to announce it," Locke said.

But a picture has emerged of a vulnerable man who might have inadvertently compromised a deal several U.S. officials say was the best they could do, given the desire Chen expressed to stay in China.

Several sources within both the dissident network of Chen's supporters and on the U.S. side say that Chen remained focused on remaining in his home country with his family where he believed he could continue to fight for his cause.

Chen became best known for his 2005 campaign again the forced abortion and sterilization of rural women in China as part of the country's One Child Policy. He served four years in prison for disturbing public order and was then placed under what he has called a brutal house arrest including constant surveillance, isolation and abuse.

In the final hours of negotiation last week, Chen had asked that his family be brought to Beijing as an act of good faith by the Chinese government.






Page 2 of 2
May 3, 2012
"The Chinese government didn't want to go through the trouble unless they thought he might agree to the plan," Ambassador Locke said.

The Chinese put his wife, Yuan Wiejing, and two small children on a high speed train to Beijing. When she arrived the two were able to speak for the first time since his escape. And as the clock ticked down, it was Yuan who urged him to leave.

"[His] wife was pleading for Chen to come to the hospital," Locke said. "She said, 'We need to keep the struggle going. We have to take it a step at a time. It might not be everything we want but it is a step.'"


STR/AFP/Getty Images
Chen Guangcheng, right, stands with his wife... View Full Size

Chen Guangcheng Reunited With Family Watch Video

Chinese Dissident Escapes Arrest Watch Video

Blind China Activist Makes Mystery Escape Watch Video

Chen agreed, and photos released soon afterwards show a smiling team of U.S. officials surrounding an exuberant Chen. But the celebration would not last long.

Whether the United States can or is willing to seek further negotiations is unclear, but unlikely given China's public statements on the matter thus far. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman has demanded that the United States apologize for the incident for the good of relations.

Clinton today addressed a conference in Beijing where she emphasized the importance of a partnership between the U.S. and China on global issues, but did not mention Chen by name.

Chen remains at the hospital in Beijing with his family. Online reports by his friend, Teng Biao, released by the State Department say he has been in touch with U.S. officials.

Speaking to ABC News this morning, Chen said, "If I can leave China, I will."

Whether that is even a possibility at this point remains unclear.


:sulk:

[eaglethebeagle]

China's Chen Guangcheng 'unable to meet US officials'

Chen Guangcheng has appealed to the US president for help leaving China
Continue reading the main story
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Shadow over US-China ties
Mardell: Defining moment?
Profile: Chen Guangcheng
Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng says he has been unable to meet US officials to discuss his desire to leave the country.

The blind activist, in hospital in Beijing, told the BBC he believed Chinese officials were preventing US envoys from visiting him on Thursday.

After he escaped house arrest last week, Mr Chen spent six days in the US embassy before emerging on Wednesday.

The issue continues to overshadow key talks between the US and China.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Beijing to attend talks focusing on North Korea and Syria.

As the talks opened, Mrs Clinton did not mention Mr Chen by name but addressed the topic of human rights.

'Threats to family'
Over the past two days there have been a number of reports, sometimes contradictory, about exactly why Mr Chen left the embassy and what information he had been given.

The US ambassador to China, Gary Locke, on Thursday rejected the suggestion that Mr Chen had been pressured into leaving.

Continue reading the main story
Analysis


Michael Bristow
BBC News, Beijing
China is saying little about Chen Guangcheng.

Liu Weimin, a spokesman at a regular press briefing at the foreign ministry, would not be drawn on what deal had been offered to get the activist out of the US embassy.

He said Mr Chen's rights would be protected, but he also said the activist had been a "free citizen" when he was released from prison in 2010.

That is not the case. Mr Chen was a prisoner in his own home.

He is now worried he might face a similar fate if he stays in China.

"I can tell you unequivocally that he was never pressured to leave. He was excited and eager about leaving," he said.

However, US state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland acknowledged to reporters that "they as a family have had a change of heart about whether they want to stay in China".

She added: "We need to consult with them further, get a better sense of what they want to do, and together consider their options."

The BBC's Jonny Dymond in Washington says that, beyond this, the US is being fairly tight-lipped about what its officials are now doing.

He says the impression is that efforts are going on behind the scenes to ascertain Mr Chen's wishes and where to go from here, all the time balancing that against the diplomatic difficulty of having Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in Beijing for bilateral talks.

Mr Chen told the BBC by telephone from his hospital bed, in an interview conducted in Chinese, that since he left he has been made aware of threats issued to his wife and family while he was in the embassy.

"She told me our house has been installed with seven CCTV cameras inside the courtyard. There are people in and outside of our house and on the roof... They just eat and stay in our house, and they plan to build up electric wires around my house," he told the BBC.

Although he initially said he wanted to stay in China, he changed his mind because he believed China had reneged on an agreement to guarantee his safety.

There is no official confirmation about the nature of any such agreement, but media reports from the US suggest that Mr Chen had been promised safety in a university town elsewhere in China.

Continue reading the main story
Chen Guangcheng


Born 12 Nov 1971
Nicknamed the "Barefoot Lawyer"
Went blind as a child
Campaigned for women forced to have abortions or sterilisation under China's one child per family policy
Jailed for four years in 2006 for disrupting traffic and damaging property
Released from jail in 2010 and placed under house arrest
Daughter barred from school during much of 2011, reports say
Escapes house arrest, April 2012
China microbloggers' fears
Is it legal to hide in an embassy?
Profile: Chen Guangcheng
Mr Chen also said that US officials had been to the hospital where he is currently receiving treatment, but he had not seen them. He believes Chinese foreign ministry officials are not letting them in. There is a considerable police presence at the hospital.

"Yesterday afternoon I thought they (the US officials) left. I looked for them, but couldn't find them... Today I got to know that they were prevented from coming in, not that they are not coming in," Mr Chen said.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said he had "no information" on Mr Chen's request to leave China.

'Universal rights'
Mrs Clinton has previously expressed her support for Mr Chen, who has been held under house arrest for almost two years.

As the bilateral talks opened, she addressed the topic of human rights.

"The United States believes that no state can legitimately deny the universal rights that belong to every human being - or punish those who exercise them," the top US diplomat said.

President Hu Jintao, also speaking at the start of the talks, said it was not possible for China and the US to see "eye to eye on every issue".

Chinese officials on Wednesday accused the US of interference in China's domestic affairs and demanded an apology for housing Mr Chen at the US embassy.

Mr Chen had been at the embassy for almost a week after escaping from house arrest in his home village in the eastern province of Shandong.

He had planned his escape from house arrest for months. On 27 April, he scaled the wall the authorities had built around his house and was then driven hundreds of miles to Beijing.

Several people involved in Mr Chen's escape have been detained or have disappeared in recent days.

The activist has spent seven years in prison or under house arrest after he exposed human rights abuses, including the way thousands of women were forced to have abortions under China's "one-child-policy".

[nastyleg]

What the Fuck? It's like dealing with a fucking Iraqi police chief who said one thing and did another and denies ever saying it.

[eaglethebeagle]

Let me say this.. I used ABC so that we dont get that Foxnews spin from those who like using that. I also dont give much a shit about chinese wanting to escape to America really. I on the other hand think that America has always been that place viewed as a sanctuary for those seeking to leave communism or other repressive nations and governments.

So with all that I knew this guy and situation would be a clusterfuck. I believe he wants out of china and the governemnt threatened to kill his wife and family so he balked. Our current American government officials care more about keeping the politics working in their favor so what ever they could do to sweep this under a rug and be finished with it worked and no shit was givin for this guys life or safety.

So if he turns up missing or he drives off a cliff then no surprise.

[gazzthompson]

What could the embassy people have done?

[eaglethebeagle]

What could the embassy people have done?

What we have done before and let him defect. The fact that he was allowed to have his family threatened and our current government be as strong as a limp dick as usual is pathetic. There should have been demand for his family to reunite with him at our embassy and they be allowed to defect. china is a fucking shit hole and they attempt to pretend like they are a decent country when they truly resemble north korea than anything else.

[eaglethebeagle]

BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Friday blind dissident Chen Guangcheng could apply to study abroad, a move praised by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and suggesting an end may be near to a diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Washington.
But rights activists sounded a note of caution over expectations of a quick way out for Chen, saying Beijing could be worried that appearing to be soft might embolden other challengers to Communist Party rule ahead of a power handover late this year.
The announcement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry followed a dramatic and very public appeal by Chen, who spoke by phone to a U.S. congressional hearing on his case, asking to be allowed to spend time in the United States after fleeing 19 months of extra-judicial captivity in his home village.
"If he wants to study abroad, he can apply through normal channels to the relevant departments in accordance with the law, just like any other Chinese citizen," ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said in a brief statement, adding Chen was still being treated in hospital.
Clinton, in Beijing for strategic and economic talks, said the U.S. ambassador to Beijing, Gary Locke, had spoken to Chen again on Friday when he had confirmed he wanted to go to the United States to study, along with his family.
"Over the course of the day progress has been made to help him have the future that he wants and we will be staying in touch with him as this process moves forward," she said.
"This is not just about well known activists; it's about the human rights and aspirations of more than a billion people here in China and billions more around the world and it's about the future of this great nation and all nations," Clinton added.
U.S. officials said they now expect to have regular access for both American diplomats and doctors. They also said that checks had shown that Chen had three broken bones from his escape, and his foot was put in a cast.
UNIVERSITY FELLOWSHIP
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Chen had been offered a fellowship from an American university, where he can be accompanied by his wife and two children.
She said Washington expected Beijing to quickly deal with his application to travel abroad. "The United States government would then give visa requests for him and his immediate family priority attention," Nuland said in a statement.
The crisis erupted last week when Chen sought refuge in the U.S. embassy. He stayed there for six days until Wednesday when U.S. officials took him to a Beijing hospital after assurances from the Chinese government that he and his family would receive better treatment.
But within hours, Chen, 40, had changed his mind, scuppering what had seemed to be a delicately constructed deal between Chinese and U.S. diplomats to allow him to receive treatment for a broken foot and be reunited with his wife and children.
Chen was anxious about his future and the fate of family members who apparently helped his escape and were detained by authorities in the rural eastern province of Shandong.
The issue cast a shadow over this week's visit to Beijing by Clinton for talks intended to improve ties between the world's two biggest economies.
Despite the friction, a U.S. official said China would raise foreign ownership limits in domestic joint venture securities firms and allow them to trade commodities and financial futures in a move to further liberalize capital markets. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said China had also made significant reforms to its currency regime, long a bone of contention.
Clinton told Chinese President Hu Jintao ties were the strongest they had ever been. But Beijing has nevertheless accused the United States of meddling in its affairs in the Chen case.
Chinese human rights lawyer Tang Jitian cautioned that the authorities could easily hold up the paperwork to delay Chen leaving the country. China's security forces might not be as keen as its diplomats for a quick exit.
"This notice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is positive news, but how it will play out we don't know. For instance, getting the approval for the paperwork to go, there are many potential pitfalls," said Tang. "We can't be 100 percent optimistic."
STARBUCKS-SIPPING TROUBLEMAKER
One of China's main official newspapers accused Chen of being a pawn of American subversion of Communist Party power and described U.S. ambassador Locke as a backpack-wearing, Starbucks-sipping troublemaker.
"Chen Guangcheng has become a tool and a pawn for American politicians to blacken China," the Beijing Daily said.
Chen, in translated comments, also told the congressional hearing that villagers who had helped him were "receiving retribution" and he was most concerned about the safety of his mother and brothers.
His village remained under lockdown. Guards chased away two Reuters reporters who attempted to enter the village on Friday. The four heavy-set guards ran slowly, yelling at the reporters as their car drove away.
Chen, who campaigned against forced abortions under China's "one-child" policy, sought refuge in the U.S. embassy after escaping from house arrest in a village in Shandong on April 22.
The Chen case comes at a tricky time for China, which is engaged in a leadership change. The carefully choreographed transition has already been knocked out of step by the downfall of ambitious senior Communist Party official Bo Xilai in a scandal linked to the apparent murder of a British businessman.
(Additional reporting by Beijing, Hong Kong and Washington bureaux; Writing by Mark Bendeich and Nick Macfie; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)



Am I missing something cant any chinese person buy a ticket and leave that shit hole? Why does the government act like there is going to be a mad dash to the American embassy if they are free to come and go from their country?

This guy was under house arrest and was a criminal as an activist but all other chinese are free to buy a plane ticket and come to America or no?

[gazzthompson]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_BLIND_ACTIVIST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Good job Obama.

[goinloco1]

Oh great... another worthless for us to support. good job obama. exactly what the hell can a blind, non english speaking, cronically ill, chinese guy contribute to this society. Just another welfare case for us to pay for for the rest of our lives...