Chinese activist leaves US Embassy in Beijing to protect family from death threats

[Poll_Blind]

First, you might want to check this OP in LBN which gets you up to speed on developments this morning regarding Chen Guangcheng, a blind Chinese activist who escaped from house arrest and sought refuge in the US embassy.

Basically, this morning Guangcheng left the US embassy "of his own volition" and was brought by the US ambassador to a nearby hospital. No reason for these new developments was really given.

During that car trip, Guangcheng used the mobile phone of a member of US embassy staff to contact a number of major newspapers and at least one notable figure in the Obama Administration, Hillary Clinton. During the call to the Washington Post (excerpted in the link above), Guangcheng merely said that he was in the car, headed to the hospital and that was it.

The articles covered the Who, What, When, Where...but left out Why. Why did he leave the embassy? The "of his own volition" and "to be reunited with his family" were clearly Chinese government bullshit.

Well, I think I found out the "Why". A few hours ago, fellow activist and close friend of Guangcheng, Zeng Jinyan, contacted the Associated Press and explained that it was made clear to Guangcheng that if he were to leave China, his wife and possibly children might be beaten to death.

You can read the full article at ABC, here.

As part of a deal brokered by the Obama administration:

[div class="excerpt" style="border-left: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-top: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-right: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius: 0.3077em 0.3077em 0em 0em; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px #bfbfbf;"]Activist Chen Guangcheng chose to stay in China to protect family from death threats, friend says[div class="excerpt" style="border-left: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-bottom: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-right: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius: 0em 0em 0.3077em 0.3077em; background-color: #f4f4f4; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px #bfbfbf;"]As part of the agreement that ended the fraught, behind-the-scenes standoff, U.S. officials said China agreed to let Chen and his family be relocated to a safe place in China where he could study at a university, and that his treatment by local officials would be investigated.

---snip--

However, leaving Chen in China is risky for President 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.

The negotiations over Chen's fate also included the option of sending him to the U.S., activists said.

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.

Slave empire China is now demanding an apology from the United States for their role in the matter.

And just who is Chen Guangcheng, anyway? This summation from his Wiki page probably states it more concisely than I could:

Chen Guangcheng is a Chinese civil rights activist who works on human rights issues in rural areas of the People's Republic of China. Blind from an early age and self-taught in the law, Chen is frequently described as a "barefoot lawyer" who advocates for women's rights and the poor. He is best known for exposing alleged abuses in official family planning policy, often involving claims of violence and forced abortions.

Civil rights activist, advocating for women's reproductive rights and for the poor.

No wonder he's enemy #1 of the Chinese government.

Enjoy what Freedom you do have this Wednesday and remember: It's not so free everywhere else. Look through the things you own and find something Made In China. It probably won't take long. Look at that label and ponder America's relationship with this slave state.

PB

[LASlibinSC]

1. Thanks for the post

and the link!

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Poll Blind.

[Poll_Blind]

3. UPDATE: Blind Chinese activist fears for family's safety, wants to leave country

http://www.contracostatimes.com/nation-world/ci_20531131/blind-chinese-activist-fears-familys-safety-wants-leave

[div class="excerpt" style="border-left: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-top: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-right: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius: 0.3077em 0.3077em 0em 0em; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px #bfbfbf;"]Blind Chinese activist fears for family's safety, wants to leave country[div class="excerpt" style="border-left: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-bottom: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-right: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius: 0em 0em 0.3077em 0.3077em; background-color: #f4f4f4; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px #bfbfbf;"]BEIJING -- The blind Chinese activist at the center of a six-day diplomatic tussle between the U.S. and China said he fears for his family's lives and wants to leave China, hours after American officials announced an agreement with Beijing that was to guarantee his safety.

Chen Guangcheng escaped from illegal house arrest and other mistreatment in his rural town, placing himself under the protection of U.S. diplomats last week. On Wednesday, after six days holed up inside the American embassy, he emerged and was taken to a nearby hospital. U.S. officials said they had extracted from the Chinese government a promise that Chen would reunite with his family and be allowed to start a new life in a university town.

Hours later, however, a shaken Chen told the Associated Press in a telephone interview from his hospital room that U.S. officials told him the Chinese authorities would have sent his family back to his home province if he remained inside the embassy. He added that, at one point, the U.S. officials told him his wife would have been beaten to death.

"I think we'd like to rest in a place outside of China," Chen said, appealing again for help from U.S. officials. "Help my family and me leave safely."

PB

[riderinthestorm]

4. I don't see this ending well for Chen and his family. Damn.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

5. Agree. He'll be fine while Sec'y Clinton is on this visit

after she leaves ...

[Poll_Blind]

6. I don't either, frankly. I'm a critic of Obama but most Chinese nationals who seek asylum in...

...the US embassy don't historically fare very well, I'm afraid.

If some kind of meaningful breakthrough occurs and Obama gets Guangcheng and his family out of the country...I would be really surprised. That would be a good resolution and the administration would and should get kudos for pulling it off.

But I don't think that's going to happen. I'm not an expert in the subject but from what reading I've done over the years, most Chinese who try this are usually "returned to be reuinted with their family", as the Chinese propagandists would say.

In such a situation, should Obama get as much credit for the bad outcome as the good one? No, not in my opinion. These things are messy, dangerous issues and mostly the US (nomatter who's in power) would really like the problem to "go away" than to deal with it. If that happens, that's not really just Obama, that's just the status quo in situations like this.

We're also whores of China and that really doesn't change much from administration to administration. Since the first Bush that's been the case. Not always...but that's been the general rule.

PB

[Romulox]

7. This is shameful. Apparently our State Department delivered the CCCP's threats.

"U.S. interlocutors did make clear that if Chen elected to stay in the Embassy, Chinese officials had indicated to us that his family would be returned to Shandong, and they would lose their opportunity to negotiate for reunification," she added.

In a report from Beijing, the Associated Press cited Chen as saying that a U.S. official had told him that Chinese authorities threatened to beat his wife to death if he did not leave the American Embassy.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/05/02/china-usa-threats-idINDEE8410FO20120502

[Romulox]

8. Also, China wants an *apology* for the way we turned over a man to their human rights abusers.

http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/02/china-demands-an-apology-from-the-u-s/