We are pleased to see Chen Guangcheng is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel -- China has allowed him to accept a fellowship at an American university and his family will be able to accompany him.
It is expected he will study at New York University, where his friend Jerome Cohen is a professor. In the last few days Cohen has been vital in representing Chen's interests in the negotiations between the United States and China.
As a side note, I met Cohen briefly in Beijing two years ago where I wrote about him here and here; having gotten to know Zhou Enlai in the early 1970s and worked in Beijing for a few years, Cohen has a very intimate and comprehensive knowledge of the country not only legally but historically too.
He has been following Chen's situation for seven years and even in his early 80s is not giving up the fight to help those who need legal representation wherever they are.
Cohen must be relieved Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin released a statement saying if Chen wanted to study abroad, as more than 300,000 Chinese students do, then he "can apply through normal channels to the relevant departments in accordance with the law, just like any other Chinese citizen."
At a news briefing today, Liu was certain that "competent Chinese authorities will handle his application in accordance with the law."
Fulfilling Chen's wish to study law and overseas will be extremely challenging for him and his family living in a new country and new language, but it will give them a chance to take a breather from what has happened to them in the last several years.
While China may be glad to be rid of Chen for a few years, what will happen after that? Will he be allowed back into China again? Or will he be forced to live in exile and his work in China come to a halt?
Chen will probably clamour to come back, but he will have to be a very good boy in the US and not be too vocal against China. But then again he might not be able to contain himself...
It seems human rights activists in China really need to work alone -- not be associated with anyone or have any loved ones. That way when they are in trouble, their friends and family don't have to be punished too.
Activists are willing to take whatever punishment -- even if it's uncalled for -- but when it comes to affecting their family, it's a really tough call.
Lawyer Gao Zhisheng comes to mind, now languishing in a Xinjiang jail while his family is now struggling to make new lives for themselves in the US.
The Chinese government doesn't mind disarming its critics one by one... it has time on its side...
We shall see how it deals with Chen. But in the meantime we will celebrate this diplomatic solution as a relief to this roller-coaster two weeks.
Friday, 4 May 2012
Thursday, 3 May 2012
Fast Losing Faith
I'm now despondent over how the Chen Guangcheng incident has played out.
He is now stuck in a Beijing hospital and denied the ability to contact American diplomats to express his desire for him and his family to leave China.
Apparently he made this decision after he was reunited with them and his wife told him of how she was tied to a chair for two days and threatened to be beaten to death.
Was Chen naive to think the Chinese government would leave him alone? Or was he confused and desperate to see his family to understand what would happen once he left the US consulate?
Now he is a prisoner in the hospital which is surrounded by plain clothed and uniformed police, and the media nor US diplomats are able to go in to see him.
How did this happen? Who dropped the ball?
The US is on the defensive trying to explain they had done all they could for him and that Chen had always steadfastly said he wanted to remain in China.
As for Chinese assurances Chen would be left alone, how could the US expect Beijing to let Chen go about his business after all that he's done to shame the government not only in his work but in the last two weeks?
I'd thought that perhaps Chen's determination to stay in China would be forging a new path for dissidents -- that they could still be able to go about their work in relative freedom.
But perhaps I was naive too.
This is what frustrates and fascinates me about China -- things are constantly unpredictable and hard to read since things are so opaque.
I only hope that through US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's intervention that Chen and his family can somehow get out.
He is scared and stressed. Right now he is losing faith in the US government and that's the last thing Washington needs when it welds so much soft power.
The drama is far from over.
He is now stuck in a Beijing hospital and denied the ability to contact American diplomats to express his desire for him and his family to leave China.
Apparently he made this decision after he was reunited with them and his wife told him of how she was tied to a chair for two days and threatened to be beaten to death.
Was Chen naive to think the Chinese government would leave him alone? Or was he confused and desperate to see his family to understand what would happen once he left the US consulate?
Now he is a prisoner in the hospital which is surrounded by plain clothed and uniformed police, and the media nor US diplomats are able to go in to see him.
How did this happen? Who dropped the ball?
The US is on the defensive trying to explain they had done all they could for him and that Chen had always steadfastly said he wanted to remain in China.
As for Chinese assurances Chen would be left alone, how could the US expect Beijing to let Chen go about his business after all that he's done to shame the government not only in his work but in the last two weeks?
I'd thought that perhaps Chen's determination to stay in China would be forging a new path for dissidents -- that they could still be able to go about their work in relative freedom.
But perhaps I was naive too.
This is what frustrates and fascinates me about China -- things are constantly unpredictable and hard to read since things are so opaque.
I only hope that through US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's intervention that Chen and his family can somehow get out.
He is scared and stressed. Right now he is losing faith in the US government and that's the last thing Washington needs when it welds so much soft power.
The drama is far from over.
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Chen Stands His Ground
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| A bumper sticker provided by China Aid Association |
Chen stuck to his guns and the US government complied, but the latter is facing verbal wrath from the Chinese government.
Nevertheless, this afternoon Chen, accompanied by Ambassador Gary Locke, was taken to a Beijing hospital to seek medical treatment and there he was met by his wife and two children, a son and daughter.
After round-the-clock negotiations, China agreed to investigate Chen's claims of local authorities conducting "extralegal activities" of hiring thugs to watch over and beat up the "barefoot lawyer" and his wife, as well as preventing people from seeing him.
Chen has requested that he and his family be moved to another province and that he be allowed to attend university -- currently disabled people are not permitted to go to tertiary institutions. Obviously Chen is keen on furthering his law studies to continue to help the oppressed, which is probably making Beijing nervous.
And to ensure Chen's safety and well-being, American diplomats will be checking on him and his family periodically, as well as seeing the Chinese government follows through on its investigations.
This must have been humiliating for China to accept -- it could not force Chen to leave and the US will be able to monitor how he is treated. Talk about meddling in its internal affairs.
"The US should rethink their policies and practices and take practical actions to maintain the overall relations between China and the United States," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin in a statement issued by Xinhua. "China is a country under the rule of law, and legitimate rights and interests of citizens are protected by constitution and the law. Any citizen has an obligation to abide by the constitution and the law."
May we point out that Chen did not break any laws at all during his law activism; his jailing in 2006 was based on trumped up charges of damaging property and "organizing a mob to disrupt traffic", and not the real reason which was riling up local officials for exposing them forcing women to have abortions and sterilizations.
And what's this about China being "under the rule of law"? How can Liu say that when Chen was under house arrest after he finished doing jail time for crimes he did not commit?
The words are so ridiculous that no one, not even the Chinese themselves believe them anymore.
As a result the US refuses to apologize and have spun it by saying this was a "extraordinary case involving extraordinary circumstances".
In any event it's a very big victory for Chen and his fellow activists, who have gotten much exposure from this incident about the repressed environment they are working in and perhaps feel more free to do their work.
However we shall see if the Chinese government honours its commitments; and if it doesn't, it will surely find another way to choke off human rights activists' efforts which could lead to history repeating itself.
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
A Pawn Between China and the US
The Chen Guangcheng story has evolved quickly in the last few days with the upcoming Strategic and Economic Dialogue starting in Beijing later this week.
China and the United States are anxious to resolve Chen's situation quickly before these annual conversations begin and it is looking more and more like he and his family may go into exile in the US for "medical reasons".
This is bad timing on Chen's part, but he was desperate to get out; on the other hand China does not want to look like it is giving in to dissidents' demands particularly when he escaped from tight security around his home that apparently costs $10 million a month to maintain.
Going to the US isn't exactly what Chen wanted -- he was hoping to bargain his way into getting peace and security for his family. But China doesn't want him practicing law anymore, particularly when it comes to arming the grassroots with knowledge of the law.
Meanwhile Premier Wen Jiabao is abroad at the moment so he isn't even in the country to personally entertain Chen's demands, and besides, going to an embassy or consulate usually signals a last resort, not a means to an end.
So Chen may have miscalculated, and this will be a devastating reality for him.
He will probably not be able to champion human rights for people in China anymore, after being such an inspiration to so many people across the country.
But the persecution under house arrest was too much physically and mentally for him and his family.
These issues are so difficult to resolve under the circumstances that we can only hope the best intentions for Chen and his family will be of the utmost importance.
Now he is the pawn between two countries trying to figure out his fate.
Strategically this is not the best position for him to be in.
At least he made his voice heard but now he may be silenced for a long time.
China and the United States are anxious to resolve Chen's situation quickly before these annual conversations begin and it is looking more and more like he and his family may go into exile in the US for "medical reasons".
This is bad timing on Chen's part, but he was desperate to get out; on the other hand China does not want to look like it is giving in to dissidents' demands particularly when he escaped from tight security around his home that apparently costs $10 million a month to maintain.
Going to the US isn't exactly what Chen wanted -- he was hoping to bargain his way into getting peace and security for his family. But China doesn't want him practicing law anymore, particularly when it comes to arming the grassroots with knowledge of the law.
Meanwhile Premier Wen Jiabao is abroad at the moment so he isn't even in the country to personally entertain Chen's demands, and besides, going to an embassy or consulate usually signals a last resort, not a means to an end.
So Chen may have miscalculated, and this will be a devastating reality for him.
He will probably not be able to champion human rights for people in China anymore, after being such an inspiration to so many people across the country.
But the persecution under house arrest was too much physically and mentally for him and his family.
These issues are so difficult to resolve under the circumstances that we can only hope the best intentions for Chen and his family will be of the utmost importance.
Now he is the pawn between two countries trying to figure out his fate.
Strategically this is not the best position for him to be in.
At least he made his voice heard but now he may be silenced for a long time.
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