MCLC: negotiated deal on Chen Guangcheng case

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: negotiated deal on Chen Guangcheng case
***********************************************************

Source: NYT (5/2/12):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/world/asia/chen-guangcheng-leaves-us-emba
ssy-in-beijing-china.html

Blind Chinese Dissident Leaves U.S. Embassy for Medical Treatment
By JANE PERLEZ 

BEIJING ‹ Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese dissident who fled house
arrest last month in a dramatic escape from security forces, left the
American Embassy in Beijing on Wednesday after securing assurances from
the Chinese government that he would remain safe, American officials said
in the first account of his diplomatically tense six-day stay there.

The officials described details of the negotiations between both
governments and Mr. Chen as well as a telephone call to the dissident from
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton after he left the embassy
compound for treatment at a medical facility here.

Mrs. Clinton said in a statement that she was ³pleased that we were able
to facilitate Chen Guangcheng¹s stay and departure from the U.S. Embassy
in a way that reflected his choices and our values. I was glad to have the
chance to speak with him today and to congratulate him on being reunited
with his wife and children.²

³Mr. Chen has a number of understandings with the Chinese government about
his future, including the opportunity to pursue higher education in a safe
environment,² she added. ³Making these commitments a reality is the next
crucial task.²

Mr. Chen entered the American Embassy six days ago with the assistance of
American officials because of the ³exceptional circumstances, including
his disabilities,² a senior American official told American reporters
traveling with Mrs. Clinton. ³On humanitarian grounds we assisted him and
allowed him to remain on a temporary basis,² the official said.

Mr. Chen, a lawyer who had campaigned against forced abortions and
sterilizations conducted as part of China¹s policy of limiting families to
one child, suffered an injury to his foot during his escape from his house
in Shandong province last week and was walking with the help of a crutch,
the official said.

During his time at the embassy, Mr. Chen adhered to his position that he
was not seeking asylum in the United States but wanted to stay with his
family in China as a free person, said the official, who was involved in
the three-way negotiations that involved Mr. Chen and officials from the
United States and China.

³He expressed his hope to stay in China and he never varied from that,² a
second senior official involved in the negotiations, who briefed
reporters, said.

On Wednesday afternoon, after Mrs. Clinton¹s arrival about six hours
earlier, and after the Chinese had made commitments to guarantee his
safety, the Ambassador Gary Locke asked Mr. Chen if he was ready to leave
the American Embassy.

Mr. Chen, who speaks broken English, said in Chinese: ³ŒLet¹s go,¹² one of
the two American officials said.

As he left the embassy for the hospital, Mrs. Clinton phoned Mr. Chen in
what the two American officials said was an emotional conversation since
both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Chen knew of each other but had never met.

At the end of the talk, according to one of the officials, Mr. Chen said
to Mrs. Clinton: ³I would like to kiss you.²

The officials said that during the negotiations inside the embassy, Mr.
Chen at times would sit with the two main negotiators, holding each one of
them by the hand. The two negotiators were the State Department¹s legal
adviser, Harold Koh, and the assistant secretary of State for East Asian
and Pacific affairs, Kurt M. Cambpell.

After driving a short distance to the Chaoyang Hospital from the embassy
compound, Mr. Chen was reunited with his wife and children, whom he had
not seen in some time, the officials said. He was being treated by
American and Chinese doctors, the officials said. Mr. Chen had agreed that
his medical records be given to the Chinese doctors, they said.

Under the arrangement agreed to by the United States, China and Mr. Chen,
he would be relocated to a different part of China from his hometown in
Shandong Province, where he was under house arrest and where he says his
family had been physically attacked, the officials said.

Mr. Chen would be allowed to enroll at a university to pursue his law
studies, a profession in which he is self-taught, the senior official
said. ³He will have several university options,² one of the officials said.

The American officials said they were satisfied with the pledges from the
Chinese authorities that Mr. Chen, 40, would be allowed to live a normal
life. The Chinese promised to report any actions against him, they said.

Precisely what the Chinese government offered as a way of protection for
Mr. Chen was not immediately clear. The American officials went out of
their way to praise the Chinese negotiators. They described them as
working ³intensely and with humanity.²

There appeared to be no similar case in which a high-profile Chinese
dissident had sought protection at the American Embassy and then returned
to Chinese custody. American human rights officials and lawyers have often
questioned whether the Chinese would provide the protection they promised
in such a situation.

³This was not easy for the Chinese government,² one of the senior American
officials said.

Only hours earlier, the crisis that has swirled around Mr. Chen seemed far
from abating as China accused the United States of interfering in its
affairs and demanded an apology from Washington for taking a Chinese
citizen into the embassy ³via abnormal means.²

³The Chinese side is strongly dissatisfied with the move,² the official
Xinhua news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Weimin, as
saying. ³The U.S. Embassy in Beijing has the obligation to observe
relevant international laws and Chinese laws and it should not do anything
irrelevant to its function.²

The two American officials declined to address the demand that the United
States apologize for sheltering Mr. Chen and that the United States
investigate the circumstance in which the embassy was used in what the
Chinese said was an ³abnormal² way.
³Our actions were lawful,² one of the American officials said.

Mrs. Clinton is in China for two days of scheduled talks with senior
Chinese officials on economic and security matters.

She landed in Beijing shortly before 9 a.m. local time. Whether she took
charge of negotiations was not immediately clear but Mr. Chen was admitted
to the medical facility some hours after her arrival. Mr. Chen¹s case will
continue to overshadow the talks, known as the Strategic and Economic
Dialogue, which are scheduled to begin Thursday.

But movement toward a resolution may ease some of the pressure. The Obama
administration and the Chinese government have been anxious to ensure the
case did not dominate the talks, which will cover subjects from North
Korea to the global economy.

The last Chinese dissident to take refuge in an American diplomatic
compound was Fang Lizhi, an astrophysicist, who walked into the embassy in
Beijing with his wife in 1989, the day after the People¹s Liberation Army
crushed pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.

The Chinese government regards foreign criticism of its human rights
policies and practices as undue interference in its internal affairs, and
it will almost certainly use the occasion of the talks to drive that point
home, diplomats in Beijing said.