BEIJING (AP) — A blind Chinese activist who sparked a diplomatic tussle by holing up in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for six days emerged today after U.S. officials said China had assured his safety.
Chen Guangcheng’s escape from illegal house arrest and other mistreatment in his rural town and his flight into the protection of U.S. diplomats in Beijing had threatened to derail annual U.S.-China strategic talks involving U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton starting Thursday.
U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke escorted Chen to the Chaoyang Hospital, where he was to receive medical treatment. On the way, the activist called his lawyer, Li Jinsong, who said Chen told him: “‘I’m free. I’ve received clear assurances.’”
Chen, 40, also received a call from Clinton, whom he thanked in Chinese for raising his case, a U.S. official said. Chen then told Clinton in halting English, “‘I want to kiss you,’” the official said.
Chen, who ran afoul of local government officials for exposing forced abortions, escaped from 20 months of home detention last week, fleeing into U.S. hands and setting up the most delicate diplomatic crisis in years for the two governments.
As part of the agreement that ended the fraught, behind-thescenes standoff, U.S. officials said China agreed to let Chen receive a medical checkup and be reunited with his family at the hospital; his wife and two children joined him there this afternoon. He would then be relocated to a safe place in China where he could study at university — all demands activists said Chen had raised.
Clinton, in a statement, said Chen’s exit from the embassy “reflected his choices and our values” and said the U.S. would monitor the assurances Beijing gave. “Making these commitments a reality is the next crucial task,” she said.
In a fit of face-saving pique, the Chinese Foreign Ministry demanded that the U.S. apologize, investigate how Chen got into the embassy and hold those responsible accountable.
“What the U.S. side has done has interfered in the domestic affairs of China, and the Chinese side will never accept it,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said in a statement.
The apparent resolution shelves, at least for now, a predicament that threatened to move human rights to the front of a U.S.-China agenda crowded with disagreements over trade imbalances, North Korea and Syria.
With Chen out of the way, Clinton, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and their Chinese counterparts can focus on the original purpose of their two-day talks starting Thursday: building trust between the world’s superpower and its up-andcoming rival.
However, leaving Chen is risky for President Barack Obama because Washington will now be seen as party to an agreement on Chen’s safety that it does not have the power to enforce.
Senior U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the intense negotiations that led to Chen leaving the embassy, said the U.S. helped Chen get into the embassy because he injured his leg escaping from his village. In the embassy, Chen did not request safe passage out of China or asylum in the U.S., the officials said.
The officials refused to say if Washington would apologize. One official said that embassy staff acted “lawfully” and in conformity with policy, suggesting that the U.S. does not believe it has anything to apologize for.
Another official would say only that “this was an extraordinary case involving exceptional circumstance, we do not anticipate that it will be repeated.”
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