Government

Blind Lawyer’s Unlikely Escape From China Set to Overshadow Diplomatic Discussions

Days before annual U.S.-Chinese diplomatic and economic talks, relations between the powers risked sharply deteriorating Saturday with an escaped Chinese activist reportedly under American protection and a U.S. fighter jet sale to Taiwan now being considered.

Fellow activists say Chen Guangcheng, a blind lawyer who exposed forced abortions and sterilizations as part of China’s one-child policy, fled house arrest a week ago and has sought protection at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Neither the U.S. nor Chinese government has confirmed the reports, but the saga looks set to overshadow this coming week’s Strategic and Economic Dialogue in the Chinese capital. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are leading the U.S. side at the talks beginning Thursday.

A potential further complication is a letter from the White House director of legislative affairs, Rob Nabors, to Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, explaining that the Obama administration would consider selling new U.S. warplanes to Taiwan. A sale would infuriate China, which considers the island nation an integral part of its state even after their split more than six decades ago.

Here is the video Guangcheng released after his alleged escape:

Chen‘s status and the fighter jets represent the latest strains in Washington and Beijing’s up-and-down relationship in recent years. President Barack Obama has sought to “pivot” American military might and diplomatic energy toward Asia to improve America’s standing in the region and check the expansion of Chinese power, and achieved mixed results.

The two issues underscore the fundamental disconnect between the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 economies, the top importer and exporter, and the biggest military and the fastest developing, on issues from human rights and Taiwan to currency policy and combating nuclear-armed North Korea and potentially nuclear-armed Iran.

A Texas-based activist group that has been active in promoting Chen’s case said China and the U.S. were discussing the fate of the 40-year-old.

“Chen is under U.S. protection and high-level talks are currently under way between U.S. and Chinese officials regarding Chen’s status,” said a statement from the ChinaAid Association. It cited a source close to the situation.

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing declined comment, as did U.S. officials in Washington. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said he had no information on Chen’s case.

ChinaAid’s founder, Bob Fu, said Chen’s case was a benchmark for the United States and its human rights image around the world.

In February, a former regional chief of police, Wang Lijun, visited a U.S. consulate to raise concerns about the murder of a British businessman and possible links to powerful Chinese politician Bo Xilai. Wang expressed interest in seeking asylum with the U.S., but was turned away, raising eyebrows among Republican lawmakers in the United States.

Chen’s case has become an embarrassment for Beijing. Fu and Chinese-based activists say he slipped away from his intensely guarded home on the night of April 22. His wife and 6-year-old daughter are still there.

Blind Lawyers Unlikely Escape From China Set to Overshadow Diplomatic Discussions

An undated photo of the activist and his family (Photo: Chinaaid.Org/European Pressphoto Agency)

Chen recorded a video as a direct address to Premier Wen Jiabao, condemning the treatment of him and his family and accusing local Communist Party officials by name. Activists sent the video Friday to the overseas Chinese news site Boxun.com, which posted part of it on YouTube.

If Chen is in the U.S. Embassy or with U.S. officials at another location, it is not known how he would be able to leave or where he could go without Chinese permission. There was no extra security outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on Saturday.

In 1989, Fang Lizhi, whose speeches inspired student protesters throughout the 1980s, fled with his wife to the U.S. Embassy after China’s military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement. He was forced to stay there for 13 months.

Chen is widely admired by rights activists in China who last year publicized his case among ordinary Chinese and encouraged them to go to Dongshigu village and break the security cordon. Even Hollywood actor Christian Bale tried to visit, but was roughed up by locals paid to keep outsiders away

A self-taught lawyer blinded by fever in infancy, Chen served four years in prison for exposing forced abortions and sterilizations in his and surrounding villages. Since his release in September 2010, local officials confined him to his home. Amnesty International and other human rights groups say he was abused over the last 18 months.

But Washington will have to weigh its response at a time it is seeking China’s help on many issues around the world, from trying to restrain North Korean and Iranian nuclear ambitions to forcing Syria’s government into observing a cease-fire. There are also debates about currency and trade policy considered highly relevant to U.S. and global economic recovery.

Alongside Russia, China has brushed aside American pressure to raise the pressure on Syria despite repeated U.S. warnings that those in opposition will end up on the wrong side of history. China has shielded North Korea from tougher international action despite the reclusive communist government’s continued nuclear activity and a series of provocations that nearly plunged the Korean peninsula into war two years ago.

The overtures have left Obama vulnerable to charges that he is being naive or too accommodating to China. Republican critics, including likely presidential nominee Mitt Romney, say the administration hasn’t pressured China enough on issues vital to U.S. economic and strategic interests.

Since Obama took office, China’s booming economy has driven global growth while the U.S. has struggled to emerge from its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Greater Chinese assertiveness has resulted in clashes with the U.S. over naval vessels in the Yellow Sea and American exporters trading with Taiwan; with Japan over fishing rights; and with Southeast Asian nations over claims to the resource-rich South China Sea.

But Washington has pushed back. To ease concerns posed by the threat of China-backed North Korea, the U.S. has strengthened military alliances with South Korea and Japan. By speaking out against China’s maritime claims, it has improved ties with Southeast Asian nations fearful of an expansive and potentially belligerent Beijing.

U.S. relations with Vietnam and the Philippines in particular have benefited. Even reclusive Myanmar, long an international pariah protected by China’s diplomatic sway, has initiated democratic and human rights reforms to improve its standing with the U.S. and the West. The U.S. also has led talks on a new regional trade pact that would exclude China.

With the Iraq war over and combat operations in Afghanistan ending over the next couple of years, Obama has recalibrated U.S. focus on Asia and its booming markets such as China, India and Indonesia. More than half of the world’s population lives in Asia, which is seen as the future center of the world economy.

Previous rounds of the U.S.-China dialogue have been hailed as productive and have included new educational and scientific exchanges. But they haven’t resolved points of contention over Taiwan, Tibet and human rights.

U.S. arms sales to Taiwan particularly rankle China, and the irritation could grow worse with the emergence of the White House letter.

China has 2,300 operational combat aircraft, against only 490 for Taiwan. In September, the U.S. turned down a Taiwanese request for 66 relatively advanced F-16 jet fighters, while agreeing to help Taiwan upgrade its existing F-16 fleet. Critics accused the White House of yielding to pressure from China.

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. Despite improving relations over the past four years, China still threatens to attack across the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait if the democratic island seeks to declare independence.

Comments (17)

  • Wilma
    Posted on May 3, 2012 at 4:43pm

    That is exactly what happened.

    Report Post » Wilma  
  • jimbob50
    Posted on April 30, 2012 at 8:59pm

    With Clinton in charge of this can you say “Elian Gonzalez”.

    Report Post »  
  • KangarooJack
    Posted on April 28, 2012 at 11:46pm

    All kidding aside people, y’all REALLY ought to look at “The West Wing” reruns cuz this Administration {I swear} took their playbook from a TV Series. All the way down to the “Friday Dump” to the “Block of Cheese” episodes.

    Report Post » KangarooJack  
  • Spitfire1938
    Posted on April 28, 2012 at 10:00pm

    Sorry… Heres the rest:

    the mentally and physically handicapped, the unproductive, the unwanted, and the aged. He, unlike ‘All’ past Presidents, recognizes the enormous amount of time, energy and resources wasted because of overpopulation and the problems resulting from it’s continued existence. Progressive thinking people like our President have always recognized that protecting human life as a ‘National Goal’ is like allowing a virulently destructive weed to slowly envelope and kill the ‘garden’ of our nation.

    Unlike most respondents, I believe Chen Guangcheng is a danger to the peace and tranquility Chinas benevolent Leaders have worked so hard to establish and which is based unapologetically on the magnificent example set by Mao Tse Tung! I’m sure our President will recognize the danger, as did President Clinton in the case of Elian Gonzalez, and order the immediate expulsion of Mr Chen from the US Embassy. We cannot allow counter revolutionaries, so called defenders of liberty, to use the symbol of our ‘National Integrity’ overseas to pursue divisive, destructive goals. Handing him over to proper authority is the right thing to do!

    Report Post »  
    • trueamerican40
      Posted on April 28, 2012 at 11:20pm

      Nice try but I think we’ll keep him because it ****** off the Chinese that much more. I love it when progressives like you try to use the Jedi-mind trick. That doesn’t work on someone who has read thousands of books…that’s right, if I don’t know something, I RESEARCH it, instead of believing the lamestream media.

      Report Post » trueamerican40  
    • JMorcan
      Posted on April 29, 2012 at 11:50pm

      Spitfire, you’re a CCP shill.

      Report Post » JMorcan  
  • Spitfire1938
    Posted on April 28, 2012 at 8:50pm

    It clearly needs to be pointed out that, unfortunately, the thoughts held by most Americans regarding the ‘Nations’ stand on human rights, are mired in the past. Progressives have long recognized that in order to save our Earth it’s necessary to control the growth of population. Allowing people to procreate freely is a recipe for environmental disaster, and China, has always been a source for enlightenment on this issue.

    They wisely limit family‘s to one child and those who ’accidentally‘ or ’consciously’ fail to comply must, of course, bear the consequences of any act, deliberate or not, of disobedience. One has only to look at Mexico or India to observe the disaster brought on by unrestrained population growth. Absolute poverty, starvation, filth, misery and hopelessness grip those countries. On the other hand the people of China, North Korea and Cuba are smiling and happy as they hail their enlightened leaders for saving them from the cultural and environmental disaster of overpopulation.

    So it stands to reason that anyone who defends the ‘old way’ must necessarily be dealt with firmly, both to persuade them not to behave in such counterproductive ways, but also to staunch similar behavior in others.

    Many Americans do not seem to understand how lucky they are to finally have a President who understands how important it is to recognize the enormous burden placed on our culture and economy by such debilitating negatives as overpopulation, the mentally an

    Report Post »  
    • ICRedifURBlue
      Posted on April 28, 2012 at 9:49pm

      Wow Spitshyte……aborting progressives the like of you from this earth will be the silver lining to the cloud your god osama obama is trying to form……..if that POS steals another term, I‘m afraid there’s gonna be a storm that’ll make the Apocalypse look like a birthday party……..

      Report Post »  
    • disenlightened
      Posted on April 29, 2012 at 9:18am

      SPITFIRE1938 – Only a first born or only child would agree with the Chinese limits on children. People like you are the reason for people like Mao, Stalin and Hitler.

      Report Post » disenlightened  
    • JMorcan
      Posted on April 29, 2012 at 11:44pm

      This article is not about China’s one child policy. It’s about a man who was beaten and imprisoned for voicing a dissenting opinion.

      Report Post » JMorcan  
  • taxpro4u03
    Posted on April 28, 2012 at 6:32pm

    Hm — interesting — quite a BIT of US corporate ‘production’ $ is tied up in China who also holds quite a bit of her ‘debt’ from what I understand… Vladamir‘s got some ’diplomatic’ reigns with d.c. (not-with-standing the open mic fiasco a few weeks ago) and recently got an oil-rich alaskan island gift courtesy of our ceo — along with planned ‘joint exercise’ in denver later on… now intentionally ******* off ‘mao’ — sumpn‘s ’not right’ ;-) Anyone care to ‘guess’ what‘d happen if all of a sudden ’capitalism’ communist china decides to FREEZE the big-ass in-bed usa corporation‘s assets there as a tool of ’pressure?‘ and it AIN’T about imports of FOOD and shoes to wally-world…. ok maybe a lil. Remembe folks in Ukraine STARVED to death — but only a few ;-) Agenda 21/Monsato anyone?

    Report Post »  
  • disenlightened
    Posted on April 28, 2012 at 2:38pm

    He was probably bumping into all kinds of trees and houses on the way to the U.S. Embassy. That‘s what happens when they don’t know the terrain. I hope he didn’t get hurt.

    Report Post » disenlightened  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on April 28, 2012 at 2:21pm

    One more dog and pony routine; even with him having ‘escaped’ to the US embassy; the fact is I can see Obama turning him back over to mainland China; revoke any deal with Taiwan that actually will aid their defense, unless the machinery is ‘made in mainland china’ which will allow them to track and destroy the Taiwanese military gear in battle when the confrontation comes.

    And under Obama’s abysmal record of China kow towing, it is all but assured when China feels their time has come and the US can or will do nothing to stop them.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • scuba13
    Posted on April 28, 2012 at 2:15pm

    For a blind guy he sure has opened alot of people’s eyes.

    Report Post » scuba13  
  • Mark0331
    Posted on April 28, 2012 at 2:10pm

    This is more of the smoke and mirror dog and pony show this admin will force into the News Cycle this week to detract from the appaling job numbers, GDP downturn…etc….Now we will hear all about this poor blind lawyer who ‘escaped’…Curious how he stood up against forced abortions and sterilization….Won’t he find it odd when he comes here that there are Americans who scream, lie and demand to have the ability to kill their own children through abortions or choose to have sterilization because it is their ‘right’…

    Report Post » Mark0331  
    • trueamerican40
      Posted on April 28, 2012 at 9:48pm

      Are Americans aware that China has stolen our jobs, forced us to become dependent on them (5 billion dollar loans a day), stolen our resources so they can make cheaper products and sell them back to US with a hefty export tax, DRILL for oil off of OUR coast, sends hundreds of spies into US, and much more? Why are we riding the dragon? Gonna get burned in the end.

      Report Post » trueamerican40  
  • lukerw
    Posted on April 28, 2012 at 2:04pm

    Parasite & Host!

    Report Post » lukerw  

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