China Activist’s Future Unclear After He Exits U.S. Embassy

[WestVirginiaRebel]

NY Times:

BEIJING — In a series of dramatically conflicting developments on Wednesday, the Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng left American custody under disputed circumstances, and what briefly looked like a deft diplomatic achievement for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton turned into a potential debacle.

Mr. Chen, who was inside the American Embassy compound here for six days as the Chinese and American governments negotiated over his fate, left Wednesday afternoon in a deal that American officials hailed as a breakthrough because it would fulfill his wish to live safely in China.

But even as Americans were releasing photographs of a celebratory send-off of Mr. Chen from the embassy, his friends questioned the reliability of any Chinese promises to allow him to live openly in China, and Mr. Chen later said his decision to give up American protection had not been fully voluntary.

In interviews with Western media from a hospital bed where he was receiving treatment as part of the deal between the Americans and Chinese, Mr. Chen said he felt he had been forced to leave the embassy. Threats against his family by the Chinese authorities had been relayed to him by American officials, he said. Mr. Chen, a lawyer who is blind, said he felt unsafe and wanted to leave China — sharply undermining the American rationale for releasing him from diplomatic protection.

The turn of events left Mrs. Clinton to begin her strategic dialogue with her Chinese counterparts on Thursday under a cloud of confusion. It also exposed the Obama administration to criticism from Republicans and human rights groups that it had rushed to resolve a delicate human rights case so that it would not overshadow other matters on the bilateral agenda that Mrs. Clinton previously called more important, including the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs and China’s currency and trade policies.

Earlier in the day, senior State Department officials who had negotiated on Mr. Chen’s behalf said that he had repeatedly insisted he wanted to remain in China, and that the Chinese authorities had made concessions to make that possible. The officials said the Chinese had agreed to allow him to start a new life in Tianjin, a port city near the capital, where he could study law and live with his family. There, he would be free of the harassment and intimidation he had suffered for years at the hands of security officials in a rural village of Shandong Province, they said.

Mrs. Clinton, who arrived in Beijing about six hours before Mr. Chen’s release, said after his departure that the Chinese government had given understandings about his future. “Making those commitments a reality is the next crucial task,” she said.

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Chen gets tossed under the bus?