BEIJING, (Reuters) – Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng says he wants to leave for the United States rather than stay in China, throwing into doubt a deal used to coax him out of the U.S. embassy in Beijing and defuse a standoff that has strained China-U.S. ties.
That standoff appears all the more troublesome for the United States, with Chen saying yesterday that he feared for his and his family’s safety if he stayed in China under an agreement that U.S. officials initially said he was happy with.
Chen, a self-taught lawyer, is under Chinese control in a Beijing hospital, having left the embassy on Wednesday. He had taken refuge at the mission for six days after escaping house arrest and left under a diplomatic solution that was meant to assure him that his circumstances in China would be improved.
But Chen told Reuters yesterday by telephone from hospital, where he was escorted by U.S. officials after leaving the embassy, that he had changed his mind after speaking to his wife who spoke of recent threats made against his family.
“I feel very unsafe. My rights and safety cannot be assured here,” he said, adding that his family supported his decision to try to get to the United States.
The lawyer activist, citing descriptions from his wife, Yuan Weijing, said his family had been surrounded by Chinese officials who menaced them and filled the family home. Chen, from a village in rural Shandong province, has two children.
“When I was inside the American embassy, I didn’t have my family, and so I didn’t understand some things. After I was able to meet them, my ideas changed.”
Chen’s decision puts more strain on U.S.-China relations at a tense time for both countries.
U.S. President Barack Obama will be sensitive to any criticism of the handling of Chen’s case in the run-up to a November presidential election and China is struggling to push through its own leadership transition late this year.
