The story about the NED promoted blind Chinese "lawyer" Chen Guangcheng who never studied law is getting crazier by the minute.
The guy was allegedly under house arrest in some town in China and a few days ago fled with the help of some other "dissidents" (also U.S. financed?) to the U.S. embassy in Beijing. My assumption was that this was somehow arranged by some U.S. agency and the idea was probably to pressure China with this. I assumed that the Chinese were likely furious about it. Today's event challenges my assumption.
Today Clinton and Geithner arrived in Beijing for a long planned strategic and economic dialogue and the affair needed to get cleaned up as soon as possible.
After some negotiations the man decided to leave the embassy:
U.S. officials said Chen had never asked for asylum during the time he was in the embassy and emphasized that he had made the decision to leave out of a desire to be reunited with his wife and two children.
"I am pleased that we were able to facilitate Chen Guangcheng's stay and departure from the U.S. Embassy in a way that reflected his choices and our values," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Beijing, where she arrived a few hours earlier for top-level U.S.-China talks.
"(Chen) has a number of understandings with the Chinese government about his future, including the opportunity to pursue higher education in a safe environment. Making these commitments a reality is the next crucial task. The United States government and the American people are committed to remaining engaged with Mr. Chen and his family in the days, weeks and years ahead."
China's Foreign Ministry said the blind Chen, who escaped the watch of the world's biggest internal security apparatus, had left the embassy of his own will. But the ministry criticized the United States' role, saying it was meddling in its domestic affairs.
Guangchen was accompanied by the U.S. ambassador to a hospital and left there. Just a few hours later AP contacted the man:
A blind activist said Wednesday that U.S. officials told him that Chinese authorities would have beaten his wife to death had he not left the American Embassy, where he sought sanctuary after fleeing persecution by local officials in his rural town.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, denied that the threat was issued but said Chen was told his family would be sent back home if he stayed in the embassy.
Speaking from the hospital room where he was taken after leaving the embassy, a shaken Chen Guangcheng said that U.S. officials told him Chinese authorities would send his family back home if he stayed inside. At one point, he said, the U.S. officials told him his wife would be beaten to death.
"They said if I don't leave they would take my children and family back to Shandong," Chen told The Associated Press. He said he heard the death threat from an American official whom he could not identify.
The man apparently also changed his mind about staying in China:
"Nobody from the (US) Embassy is here. I don't understand why. They promised to be here," he added.
…
Speaking on Wednesday afternoon, Chen told Channel 4 News that he wanted to leave China with his family for a while, despite previous reports that suggested he wanted to stay in China. "My biggest wish is to leave the country with my family and rest for a while. I haven't had a Sunday [rest-day] in seven years," he said.
I have no idea yet what to make of this. The guy seems confused and the whole issue is probably way over his head.
Is this just some crazy guy that the U.S., at one point, decided to promote through the National Endowment for Democracy just because he was making some points about Chinese government abortions? That promotion then made it impossible to reject the guy when he knocked at the door of embassy? Now a way had to be found to clean the situation up and some pressure was applied?
Please let me know your ideas about this affair.
