Chen Case to Overshadow Clinton Talks in Beijing

Posted May 2nd, 2012 at 1:20 am (UTC-5)
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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Beijing for annual talks with Chinese officials that are likely to be overshadowed by the case of a blind Chinese dissident allegedly under U.S. protection.

No U.S. official, including Clinton, has spoken directly about Chen Guangcheng, who escaped house arrest last week and reportedly fled to the U.S. embassy in Beijing. But Clinton has said human rights would be discussed during her talks, which formally begin Thursday.

China broke its silence on the issue Wednesday with an editorial in the Communist Party-affiliated Global Times newspaper. The paper downplayed the Chen incident, saying it will not affect China-U.S. relations.

The article was later removed from the Chinese edition of the Global Times website.

Clinton's trip to Beijing was planned long before the Chen case broke. She is joined by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who is along to talk about progress between China and the United States on trade and currency issues.

Chen is a lawyer and human rights activist who has been blind since childhood. He was given a four-year prison sentence in 2006 for exposing abuses under China's forced abortion policy aimed at population control. He had been under house arrest since 2010, before escaping on April 22.

He posted an Internet video last week saying he, his wife, and young daughter were abused during his house arrest. He also called on Chinese Premier Wen Jiabow to investigate human rights abuses in China.

Bob Fu, the head of the U.S.-based ChinaAid organization that reportedly has close contact with Chen, says Washington and Beijing officials are working on a deal to allow Chen to go to the United States with his family.