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Dissident leaves US Embassy, China livid
The week-long drama over a blind Chinese dissident taking refuge in the US Embassy here ended on Wednesday, with the American envoy driving him out of the premises for medical care and to be reunited with his family, hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived for talks.
Chen Guangcheng, who had claimed to have escaped from house arrest from his village in Shandong province, was holed up in the US embassy for the past six days and had become a political hot potato between the two sides. The 40-year-old Chen has left the US embassy in Beijing, State-run Xinhua news agency reported, stating that he left on his volition. He was reportedly driven by the US Ambassador to China, Garry Locke, to a hospital.
A BBC report said Chen was seen with his wife and their two children at a hospital. The development that coincided with the arrival of Clinton for two-day talks with Chinese leaders, expectedly elicited strong reactions from China which said it was tantamount to interference in internal affairs. The case also threatened to overshadow the talks in which other US officials including, Secretary Treasury, Timothy Geitner is to take part.
Locke reportedly confirmed to US media that he had Chen in his car and was taking him to a medical facility in Beijing. Soon after the announcement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry in a stern statement demanding an apology from US for taking a Chinese citizen “via abnormal means” into its embassy.
“Chen, a native of Yinan county in eastern China’s Shandong province, entered the US Embassy in Beijing in late April and left of his own volition after a six-day stay at the Embassy,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said. “It should be pointed out that Chen Guangcheng, a Chinese citizen, was taken by the US side to the US Embassy in Beijing via abnormal means, and the Chinese side is strongly dissatisfied with the move,” Liu said.
The week-long drama over a blind Chinese dissident taking refuge in the US Embassy here ended on Wednesday, with the American envoy driving him out of the premises for medical care and to be reunited with his family, hours after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived for talks.
Chen Guangcheng, who had claimed to have escaped from house arrest from his village in Shandong province, was holed up in the US embassy for the past six days and had become a political hot potato between the two sides. The 40-year-old Chen has left the US embassy in Beijing, State-run Xinhua news agency reported, stating that he left on his volition. He was reportedly driven by the US Ambassador to China, Garry Locke, to a hospital.
A BBC report said Chen was seen with his wife and their two children at a hospital. The development that coincided with the arrival of Clinton for two-day talks with Chinese leaders, expectedly elicited strong reactions from China which said it was tantamount to interference in internal affairs. The case also threatened to overshadow the talks in which other US officials including, Secretary Treasury, Timothy Geitner is to take part.
Locke reportedly confirmed to US media that he had Chen in his car and was taking him to a medical facility in Beijing. Soon after the announcement, the Chinese Foreign Ministry in a stern statement demanding an apology from US for taking a Chinese citizen “via abnormal means” into its embassy.
“Chen, a native of Yinan county in eastern China’s Shandong province, entered the US Embassy in Beijing in late April and left of his own volition after a six-day stay at the Embassy,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said. “It should be pointed out that Chen Guangcheng, a Chinese citizen, was taken by the US side to the US Embassy in Beijing via abnormal means, and the Chinese side is strongly dissatisfied with the move,” Liu said.
