Blind activist Chen Guangcheng offered fellowship from US university

“The US government expects that the Chinese government will expeditiously
process his applications for these documents… The US government would then
give visa requests for him and his immediate family priority attention.”

Earlier,
Liu Weimin, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign ministry
said: “If
[Mr Chen] wishes to study overseas, as a Chinese citizen, he can, like any
other citizen, process relevant procedures with relevant departments through
normal channels in accordance with the law”.

Mr Chen is likely to travel as soon as he recuperates from three broken bones
he sustained while escaping from the guards at his home village.

Mr Chen, who has been blind since early childhood, said he had vaulted over a
series of high walls and then crawled, bloodied and in severe pain, for nine
miles before reaching a rendezvous with He Peirong, a friend and activist
who drove him to Beijing.

Once in the city, he moved through a series of safe houses before it became
clear that he urgently needed medical attention and he approached the US
embassy. Gary Locke, the US ambassador, said it had been a “Mission
Impossible” task to retrieve Mr Chen, after US cars were tailed by Chinese
security as they tried to pick him up.

China has roundly condemned the US for the way it sheltered Mr Chen and for
meddling in its “internal affairs”. Editorials in Beijing’s main newspapers
yesterday accused Mr Chen of being a “tool” of the West, and Mr Locke of
seeking as much attention as possible, for example by personally pushing Mr
Chen’s wheelchair into Chaoyang hospital.

While it appears a new deal has been brokered, Mr Chen remained under police
guard in the hospital on Friday and it was not possible to contact him by
telephone. However US officials said that, unlike on Thursday, they now had
access to Mr Chen and had seen him for 45 minutes.

Mrs Clinton underlined that while “progress has been made to help him have the
future he wants”, there was “still more work to do”, suggesting that the
United States is waiting for China to approve Mr Chen’s travel before the
matter is concluded.

Throughout the two days of negotiation, China kept to its side of the bargain,
allowing Mr Chen to remain with his family, speak freely on his mobile phone
– including to a US Congressional committee – and sending an envoy from the
Communist Party’s Central Committee to interview him about the abuses
he suffered in his home village.

While Mr Chen’s friends and fellow activists were muzzled from speaking to the
media, by Friday night they all appeared to have been released from custody.
He Peirong sent out a message on Twitter: “I am home. All is well. Thank you
everyone”.

However, one of Mr Chen’s friends, the lawyer Jiang Tianyong, said he had been
badly beaten by national security officers as he tried to visit the hospital
on Thursday morning. Mr Jiang was left unable to hear and was prevented from
receiving medical treatment.

The whereabouts of two members of Mr Chen’s family, his brother and nephew,
are also unknown, and his elderly mother is thought to remain in his home
village, possibly under the guard of police.

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes