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Subscribe to RSSU.S. relations with China are being put to the test over the fate of Chen Guangcheng, a blind Chinese dissident who escaped from house arrest in China and is believed to be in the U.S. embassy or another safe site. NBC's Ian Williams reports.
As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton headed to Beijing late Monday for a high-stakes meeting, China blocked Web searches of terms related to blind activist Chen Guangcheng including "Shawshank Redemption," the prison-break film being compared to his case.
The drama over the dissident, who according to NBC News sources is holed-up under U.S. protection in Beijing, threatens to overshadow this week's top-level talks between the two governments.
In a further complication, the activist is seeking to remain in China and continue his campaign for reform rather than living in exile -- creating a dilemma for Clinton and adding to tension between the world's two biggest economies.
Chen fled house arrest in eastern China a week ago with the help of supporters, slipping out under the noses of dozens of guards and into Beijing, dissident Hu Jia and other activists have said.
Blind Chinese activist escapes from house arrest
Such is the sensitivity surrounding the issue that neither country has made any official comment or even confirmed Chen’s whereabouts.
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, searches for Chen's name and the Chinese terms for "Shawshank", "blind person", "embassy", and Chen's home village of Dongshigu were all blocked on Sina Weibo, China's leading microblogging service.
A blind human rights activist is said to be under the protection of the U.S. after escaping house arrest in China last week.
Also blocked was "UA898", a United Airlines direct flight from Beijing to Washington, apparently after Web users speculated online about the possibility Chen would gain U.S. asylum, the newspaper reported.
NBC sources: Blind activist is under US protection
Chen's audacious escape from house arrest, under the watch of the world's largest domestic security apparatus, was a "miracle" of planning and endurance, said Guo Yushan, a Beijing-based researcher and rights advocate who has campaigned for Chen and helped bring him to the Chinese capital after his escape.
But he said the 40-year-old, self-taught lawyer wants to stay in China and campaign for reform.
Who is Bob Fu? Chinese exile is 'God's double agent'
"He was adamant that he would not apply for political asylum with any country. He certainly wants to stay in China, and demand redress for the years of illegal persecution in Shandong and continue his efforts for Chinese society," said Guo on Monday, speaking in his first long interview since he was released from days of police questioning.
The New York Times reported that analysts characterized the diplomatic situation surrounding Chen as "fiendishly difficult to resolve."
Behind The Wall: Video reveals blind Chinese activist's plight
Chen, who campaigned against forced abortions as part of family planning, was confined to his village home in the eastern province of Shandong since September 2010, after release from jail on charges he rejected as spurious.
President Barack Obama nudged China to improve its human-rights record, saying the two countries' relationship "will be that much stronger and China will be that much more prosperous and strong as you see improvements on human rights issues in that country".
But at a news conference, he walked a fine line between not saying anything that would make it harder to resolve Chen's case while conveying U.S. concern for human rights and appreciation for wider cooperation with China.
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Leave a Comment:
Don't get involved in this issue with the blind "activist." He is not an American. This is between China and one of its citizens. It is not our responsibility to rescue every repressed person in the world.
Yeah - and define BLOCKED United Airlines 898??? I can understand your desire to say "uninvolved" when it comes to a country that has a future goal of total world econonomic domination, undermines every US effort to bring human rights to placse like Iran and Syria, and has directly and indirectly supported every faction in the world that is killing US soldiers and humanitrian aide workers Some similar observations in the last 100 years; "Don't get involved with Spain, Franco is of no concern to the USA"; Don't get involved with Japan, what they do in Asia is up to the Asians to sort out"; "Don't get involved with Germany, all Hitler is concerned with is regaining land that is traditionally German"; "Don't get involved in China, all Mao wants to do is unite"; "Don't get involved in Korea, it's a Korean issue"; Don't get involved in Vietnam, if they want communism it's up to them"; "Don't get involved in Cambodia, we don't need another war"; Don't get involved in ...............................................". Get my drift? The reality is that when countries that HAVE the ability to GET INVOLVED - DON'T, the results are ofter-times a horror story and MUCH worse. If the CHINESE start blocking US Flagged AIr Carriers it's time to BLOCK payments of any money we borrowed from them and quit "nudging".
I agree JP. We are the only country with the ability to stop acts such as these and so it is our duty to do so. China is a growing threat on the world stage because they have way too many people and especially men. Right now they can keep them controlled by putting them to work in giant factories and treating them basically like slaves. Pretty soon though, jobs are going to leave China for even cheaper labor or move them back home to America for better labor. Companies are finding more and more hidden costs everyday in dealing with China. Things such as 1 in 3 products being faulty or made of cheaper material. Also if the EPA lets us use our energy we have in America, such as natural gas and coal, energy costs could come down in The U.S and it would offset the cheap labor. When the jobs leave China, the world better be ready. How do you control a populace of mostly men when there is no jobs or enough food, you put them in the military and give them a reason to live. Not saying they would do this but it is a real threat and we should be wary of what the future holds in China.
That was quite a rant there JP, all based on what? Poor reading comprehension skills? If you follow the article intent and direction, the flight of UA 898 was not stopped; instead, United Airlines 898 was blocked from anyone finding information on it on the internet, meaning the search engines were blocked from finding these words. most likely from Google China.
ctv, he is a human being, we should be helping him overthrow China's oppressive tactics and massive censory capabilities or we would be if half of the country were not trying so desperately to take us to China;s standards of censoring everything entering their country that does not fit inside of their very small ideology. Actually it is much worse because the Gov at least has control in China; here the Gov wants to pass the torch to corporate America and that is a much unholier union.
There are billions of human being around the world who need help in some way. They are not our responsibility. If China won't let its citizens watch the Shawshank Redemption, I don't really give a crap.
Now Now, Shawshank's a great movie. It's in my top ten all time best movies. Human rights is one thing, but when you stop someone from seeing Shawshank that's just over the top.
So when should we tear down the Statue of Liberty? Or at least take a sander to the part of its base about "Give me your tired, your poor/Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free"
I guess those words only matter to people who actually value and sacrificed for what the US (is supposed to!!!) stand for.
But I guess the prevailing attitude these days is to look the other way with Darfur, allow China/Russia to obstruct action items in the UN Security Council when it comes to dealing with Syria, and much of the other places going through the Arab Spring...money after all is more important than human life! Who cares that US companies happily aided China in creating a censored internet...companies like AT&T were already given immunity for breaking due process in the US for W's warrantless wiretaps! If we do anything to interrupt China's megalomaniac-ambitions, it might hurt Walmart, Boeing and GE!
+1 for you JP!
Things have changed. We no longer have a vast wilderness to be settled.
yup, not our problem
ctv you have a woefully short term view. These problems with China and Russia will eventually become our problems. It is better to try and deal with it now instead of waiting until all hell breaks loose later on and things are harder to rectify.
Yea we looked the other way in Rwanda, and 800,000 people were hacked to death because it was an "African problem" and none of our business.
Isolationism has never worked. Do we huddle around ourselves chanting "it's none of our business" and wait till we are forced to do something? Or do we attempt to do what we can, be pro-active, and deal with the world on OUR terms, rather than let those terms be dictated by others? It's so easy for people to claim we need to stop sending food or money to various countries. You don't have to look in the faces of the starving kids and dying people. "Oh but their own country needs to solve that" Of course it does. And once most of the people die, resources will plentiful I'm sure.
I'm sorry but when a country has the ability to help, they have the duty to do so. I spent 13 years in the military believing that and I know I made a difference. Maybe a small one, but every bit helps.
ctviking, you're just a troll...no one in their right mind is that callous
Those do-gooders demanding US involvement in human right issues in China should also demand the same in Saudi Arabia, Bahran and occupied Gaza where human right violations are rampant.
@ Henrich von Dorf
Agreed! I'd much rather devote the $803 billion we wasted on Iraq by taking out/cutting off support to the scum that we stupidly call our allies.
Sadly money speaks a lot louder than human rights abuses
So it's all or nothing? We should ignore all abuse unless we're willing to take issue with all of it? It's all fine and dandy in theory, but imagine the price of gas if we cut off oil imports from the Saudi's, then put in sanctions until they did things the way we want them. I know I'd love seeing an $8.00 gallon of gas.
Besides, haven't you learned by now it's impossible to change the Islamic mindset. No matter what we do, they're going to keep killing each other and anyone else they don't agree with. We deal with them the best we can.
Henrich,
I can only speak for myself but I have been saying we should be getting involved on those as well. Part of being the freest, or maybe once the freest, naiton on this rock is that we have to stand up for those that cannot do so without being shot at by their stupid ass dictators. We have done this in the past and we have also done it wrong most of the time. Instead of helping to overthrow violent dictators and then let the populous choose their future like we did in Egypt we setup our own backed Governments, like in Vietnam and Egypt. This is the wrong way to do things, the people of those countries know what they want so let them choose what they want, not something we force onto them.
We help them but only so far as to shoot the people trying to shoot them for voicing an opinion. After that it is up to them to stand on their own legs and to choose how they want their country to be conducted.
JP345944 Q.) What did North Vietnam do immediately after the U.S. lost the War
A>) The engaged in a war with CHina.
How you like them dominoes? I'lll telll you I'm damn glad I didn't risk my life for that misconceived messss.
To say that this event doesn't have implications for the U.S. is erroneous at best. When you are dealing with another great power, every decision they make can effect your economy etc. The United States doesn't go out of our way to help other people. We do it because it helps us. We want and need countries on our side that are pro American (with values of democracy and human rights) and anti China/Russia/etc. Having friendlies helps our security and enlarges our economy.
So he escaped from house arrest.... I fail to see the resemblance to Shawshank Redemption. Did he climb out through his own sewer pipes?
If you've ever been to China, you know full well how the whole place resembles a sewer pipe to at least two of the senses.
He crawled his way through a river of po' fri' ri' and came out clean on the other side.
AND THEN?
The best scene is when the guard beats the crap out of Boggs.
Awesomealex....
Your talking out you backside... China has some absolutely gorgeous areas, as well as the areas that are less than pristine...just like every country I have ever lived in.
They have better taste than we do. What a phony film.
Ok, so you equate self-serving censorship of a very good film by a totalitarian government as an indication of good "taste" (or at least "better taste") by China? I guess that when China brutally crushed the peaceful Student pro-democracy protests in 1989 you must have interpreted this as a dramatic intellectual breakthrough towards a new, refined, sophisticated style of aesthetic judgement and sensibility from the Chinese leadership, people's art and film critics extraordinaire - boldly employing state-sanctioned, street-level goon squads for public safety (of art?) - criticism of which is unpatriotic and a capital offense in this new world art mecca China is building (or destroying?). Didn't Mao say that you have to crack open some skulls to make scrambled brains (and eggs) or if not Mao, then it must have been another famous art critic/intellectual (and/or fraud?) who said something like this? They could have even started with Chmn. Mao's oversized head, which no doubt contained a large yolk (or was it just a large joke in there?). ;)
Putting aside the fact that this article is not actually a film critique of the movie.... the film is "phony"? I didn't realize you were such an expert on the 1940-1960 penal system. It is generally considered to be one of the best films ever. Maybe if you didn't watch it with a notepad so you could write down the terrible injustices of errors in historical fact you might focus more on the story and appreciate it on the merits of what the film is about rather than the era / location it is set in. Just a thought.
Which is why it's currently ranked the #1 move of all time on IMDB, LOL!
What we have here is a true Chinese patriot. He wants to stay, he wants to make things better, he loves China. This is the type of seed that will bring significant change. Like minded people will follow, and China will change. It really is a wonderful thing - the desire for freedom is a very powerful force.
ctviking, Is that the official communist party line?
to bad they want stop all shipments of the cheap junk they send over here......
Right now the US government and corporate america wish they could be like China...we are regressing back in that direction.
But who can't wait for the second coming of JD Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and JP Morgan?
You may not be thrilled with the prospect, but some people out there can't wait to have their children conscripted into hand-severing, 80-hr week, factory labor. If we don't do business with such countries which support this level of efficiency, someone else will, and we can't afford to give up the competitive advantages that come with utilizing slave labor...we've got quarterly earnings estimates to meet! How else are those CEO's going to continue to pay for their yachts and mansions if the US decided to stop signing these unilateral trade agreements or demand we only trade with countries that don't have such egregious human rights abuses!
I can't wait for all of this largesse to trickle down! When did the GOP say again that this was going to happen?
Searches for "Shawshank" are blocked? Man, Stephen King is gonna be pissed.
I am really dissappointed in the reporting of this story. Also, Stephen King did not make Shawshank and it was a great movie. I got the first four posts - the rest are foreign, like Chinese.
Uh, yeah he did. The movie is the screen adaptation of the Stephen King short story, "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption".
The only way he will bring about real change is to have an armed resistance. That's scary...a blind man with an SKS!!!!!.
Looks like Guo Yushan would be wise to watch his back too. Hope this all ends well.
This is the kind of firm, government control that this country needs.
Wont happen, however; being you live here you're free to move to China should you like to live under oppression.
Not just the control, the hard labor concentration camps, more power to the government, government officials and police too. CIA and FBI should be able to arrest anyone without notice. Any government office, your local town councils included, should be able to put anyone under administrative arrests for 30 days without notice to the family. No one arrested should be allowed to call a lawyer, or anyone. And all sentences by any level of court, or government offices can be appealed, but the appeals are automatically denied. Anyone complaints to a senior government officer or office are subject to hard flogging in public. That should do it.
Shawshank was based on a short story by Stephen King. And i highly doubt the Chinese Gov. will allow any change... the people of China will never have freedom.
President Barack Obama nudged China to improve its human-rights record, saying the two countries' relationship "will be that much stronger and China will be that much more prosperous and strong as you see improvements on human rights issues in that country-------As China laughingly says--"Just pay us our money and then we will know who is the prosperous one' lol--Obama=A fool in sheeps clothing lol
I bet there's more to that escape story than we are hearing.
The paradign shift is in motion and has manifested.
The people are knowing what they are wanting and NO government can stop this shift. No one can buck the current of well being. no human.
That shift happened in 1989 too, and what happened ?
@ lacompa cida
Agreed. China insists that its changes only come during bloody revolutions...otherwise no change at all.
Until the billions in China decide to rise up against their oppressors, they will continue to quietly and meekly try to avoid being one of the victims of their corrupt system.
I'm so proud that the US does business with such a brutal regime and sides with monied interests over human rights!
Romney/Obama 2012!
China, Russia, Iran and the Palestinians are right now preparing plans to invade and "wipe off the face of the earth" according to Ahmadinejad ..the country of Isreal. It wont be long before Armegeddon begins. We here in the U.S.A. NEED to support our friends and allys in Isreal at all costs. Peace and justice will prevail with God's help. : )
Don't forget North Korea. They said that explicitly and publicly.
this sly lawyer is no more a champion of freedom than the thugs he 'escaped' from! he's simply using the US Embassy as a private shelter to commence his own strive for power in the Chinese 'overworld' .
the USA is being used, AGAIN! boot this idiot back to his comrades and let them do what's best for China.
if Clinton attempts to use him as 'leverage' for anything, it will backfire in her face.
China has one goal, and it isn't in the best interest of ANY other country!
Why don't you crawl back to the Chinese cave where you came from.
re;etwalker?, well said sir!!,, perfectly correct too,..and yes, there is "more",..much much "more",..if it was not this guy? it would be another, and another and another, thats the nature of the human yearning for justice and freedom,, it can not! be repressed[read some history],..long time coming,, but it is here, now,, so be it,..good for him for staying, that! is real courage in the face of adversity and danger,,, also re:China censors the internet,.. bwa ha ha,,, yeah,, is that so??.. NOT!!,.. the nature of this tool is such that it can not be controlled, it can be "policed",but not! controlled,..and by censoring any! such things?, they raise interest in the subject and in fact, are doing us all a favour,..they dont understand,, yet!!..its a learning curve,steep for some,, China would be best served by embracing this deal and moving on/ahead, they dont have time for old school POWER games,,perhaps they need to be reminded that it is the PEOPLES! republic and not the "old boys" REPUBLIC?..eh??.. Websters;"republic";a goverment in which supreme power is held by the CITIZENS! entitled to vote"[my emphasis],..language matters, sometimes more so than others, as we can see,.. no??..The very real danger is that these "old boys" will create some external threat to deflect attention from their internal! problem,[NK??],,and that is very much a possibility right now,,, Hillary is right in taking the stance she has, smart lady that,..best response??. dont play,..take your bat and ball and go home when it gets over the top and let them come to you! and ask you to play,,,schoolground tactics?? yes it is that,, sometimes we should remember the lessons we learned as children,..no??..
how is it, that the USA, a Republic, a democratic Nation, befit with Judio-Christian principles, continues to coddle these communists..we buy everything from soup to nuts from this regime, we allow them to purchase one of our biggests natural gas producers, Chessapeake, we educate their children at Harvard/Yale, but they still live, eat, breath communism, and we Americans ask for the kyjelly..not good..
Actually, they only talk Communism. They neither eat or live it (they might breath it, though. What does Communism smell like?)
Tell China to stick it. As far as their products go, maybe we should start making stuff over here again. Get rid of ALL the tax breaks for going overseas. IF someone wants to set up shop or work overseas, fine, but NO special tax breaks. Maybe then can we start creating jobs here and tell those bossy, kiss my butt Chinese communists to take a hike
There are tax breaks for moving productions overseas ? Quick. Tell me all about it, and how to get them.
There are plenty of Chinese films about how the Communists cheated Japanese and escaped during WWII. Are these films banned too ? They should be, because other Chinese dissidents may get some bad ideas.
China and the world have big problems coming down the pike. The Chinese are simply wanting more freedom starting with freedom of expression, and they will get it eventually. Like the USSR they probably will break apart into smaller countries after power is decentralized. The military centralization served it societal purpose introducing its population to the modern days and has ran its course. The blind man is an embodiement of that. Next.....
well. with the economy level that we are suffering 3.80 gallon of gasoline, inflation high, no jobs, {mayority of the jobs minimum wage] people see the chinese products like gold, because is the only thing they can afford, everybody want to buy american products, but with the salaries low high gas inflation people will buy chinese or indian products, middle clas here are changing to the poor class, and the poor are starving period so stop dreaming
Before you start pointing the fingers of blame at China, let's clean up our own country!
Here is a example of what our country has done to innocent citizens:
Unethical human experimentation in the United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about U.S. medical experiments that are alleged to be unethical, non-consensual, or illegal. For the consensual, ethical, and legal use of human beings in medical research, see Human subject research.
There have been numerous experiments performed on human test subjects in the United States that have been considered unethical, and were often performed illegally, without the knowledge, consent, or informed consent of the test subjects.
The experiments include: the deliberate infection of people with deadly or debilitating diseases, exposure of people to biological and chemical weapons, human radiation experiments, injection of people with toxic and radioactive chemicals, surgical experiments, interrogation/torture experiments, tests involving mind-altering substances, and a wide variety of others. Many of these tests were performed on children, the sick, and mentally disabled individuals, often under the guise of "medical treatment". In many of the studies, a large portion of the subjects were poor racial minorities or prisoners.
Funding for many of the experiments was provided by United States government, especially the Central Intelligence Agency, United States military and federal or military corporations. The human research programs were usually highly secretive, and in many cases information about them was not released until many years after the studies had been performed.
The ethical, professional, and legal implications of this in the United States medical and scientific community were quite significant, and led to many institutions and policies that attempted to ensure that future human subject research in the United States would be ethical and legal. Public outcry over the discovery of government experiments on human subjects led to numerous congressional investigations and hearings, including the Church Committee, Rockefeller Commission, and Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments, amongst others.
So reading this you will immediately go to the bottom and say it is all better now. BS! The stuff keeps happening and is still top secret. But now the media serves our Government and does not always expose such things. That this could happen in the USA... So like I said, let's clean up our own country before we begin to point the fingers of blame on any other.
Except that in order to clean up our own country, we need to stop supporting the abuses going on in other countries. It's not a mutually exclusive dilemma, they are both linked and you cannot try to solve one without trying to also solve the other.
So... if this is still happening, but is secret and thus there is NO PROOF that it's happening... what is anyone supposed to do about it?
Besides whine about it on the Interwebs, I mean.
Ideally? Prosecute those that knowingly broke the law and abused their positions of authority after it has been exposed that such a breach occurred.
It sucks to be reactionary when it comes to things like this, but that's typically the only way to keep this kind of thing from happening again.