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Subscribe to RSSIf negotiations are successful, Chen Guangcheng's family will come to the U.S. on a student visa where he would study at NYU. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.
Updated 08:31 a.m. ET: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said "progress had been made" on a deal over the future of Chen Guangcheng, telling reporters in Beijing she was encouraged by China's suggestions that the blind activist might be allowed to study abroad.
After she spoke, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told Reuters that Chen had been offered a fellowship from an American university, where he could be accompanied by his wife and two children.
"The Chinese Government has indicated that it will accept Mr. Chen's applications for appropriate travel documents. The United States government expects that the Chinese government will expeditiously process his applications for these documents, and make accommodations for his current medical condition," she added.
"The United States government would then give visa requests for him and his immediate family priority attention," Nuland said.
AFP - Getty Images
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner left, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, center, and Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Qishan, right, at a closing ceremony of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in Beijing Friday.
Clinton said efforts would continue to finalize an agreement over Chen's future, adding that the U.S. ambassador had visited the dissident in hospital.
"We have been very clear and committed to honoring his choices and our values," Clinton said of Chen.
Signs of a deal will provide relief to both the Obama administration -- which feared the case would overshadow the ongoing economic talks, Clinton's main purpose in China -- and the Chinese, who were reportedly keen to resolve the issue while saving face.
Earlier, Chen told The Associated Press that friends who had tried to visit him “have been beaten,” his wife Yuan Weijing had been followed and U.S. officials had been prevented from seeing him in person.
Carlos Barria, Reuters
A doctor from the U.S. embassy arrives Friday at the Chaoyang Hospital, where blind activist Chen Guangcheng is staying.
He added that he had spoken to U.S. officials by phone, but “the calls keep getting cut off after two sentences.”
“Basically I am very worried. Okay? … It is very dangerous here,” Chen told the AP, before the line went dead.
Chen, 40, is a legal activist from Shandong province who campaigned against forced abortions under China's "one-child" policy.
On April 22, he escaped 19 months of house arrest, during which he and his family faced beatings and threats. Supporters then said he was in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, which he left after six days to go to the hospital on Tuesday this week after receiving assurances from the Chinese authorities.
Chinese crackdown on dissident's family and friends
He Peirong, an activist who helped Chen escape from house arrest and drove him to Beijing was released by police Friday. She was taken away by police last Saturday. She tweeted at about 3 a.m. ST that "I'm back, everything is ok, thank you.” She declined to comment to NBC News.
Blind activist Chen Guangcheng: 'I want to leave China on Hillary Clinton's plane'
Lawyer Jiang Tianyong, another of Chen’s friends, was arrested by police Thursday evening and told NBC News Friday afternoon that he had been beaten up. He lost his hearing temporarily and is undergoing a medical check-up now, accompanied by police.
Amid the continuing concern over what will happen to Chen and his supporters, Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met Wen in the pavilion, a ceremonial reception hall in the style of a Chinese pagoda, nestled by pine trees and a lake in the middle of Beijing.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to speak out about Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese dissident who is seeking to travel to the United States. NBC's Ian Williams reports.
"This round of the dialogue is highly productive. I can say we achieved rich fruit in this round and some of those are important breakthroughs,” Wen said, according to a translator.
"What is the secret behind the sustained and the steady growth of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue [formal name for talks between the two countries]? I believe the most important thing is that we respect each other and treat each other as equals and have accommodated each other's major concerns,” he added.
China censors 'Shawshank' as Clinton heads to Beijing amid dissident drama
Clinton's prepared remarks for the meeting did not specifically mention Chen, but did say that the responsibilities of a "great nation" included "protecting the fundamental freedoms of all citizens at home."
"All governments have the responsibility of addressing their citizens' aspirations for dignity and rule of law. These are not Western values -- they are universal rights that apply to all people in all places," she said.
Blind activist: Chinese officials threatened my wife
CNBC's John Harwood reports the latest developments in the case of Chinese dissident, Chen Guangcheng's dramatic plea for help in a cell phone call to Congress.
She also talked about North Korea, Iran, Syria, and the Sudan-South Sudan conflict, describing them as "four hotspots" that "are some of the most pressing challenges we face."
Guo Yushan – who was released by police two days ago after helping Chen get to Beijing -- said in a posting on Twitter that on Chen’s first day in the hospital “some unpleasant things happened, bringing some inconvenience and misery to him and his family, making them feel anxious and nervous.”
Blind dissident's case a 'hot potato' for US-China relations
“Among all these things, he worried most about the threat from some Shandong officials to his wife Yuan Weijing,” Guo said, according to a translation. “He hopes that, under massive attention from global public opinion, the Chinese government can abide by the law and deal properly with Shandong local officials' illegal persecution on him and his family.”
Guo said that his friend was “very grateful to the world media's attention and care, and hopes that the media can understand his current complex and delicate situation, and completely understand and respond to his expression and the corresponding emotions.”
University of California, Irvine, economics professor Peter Navarro and Scott Paul of the Alliance for American Manufacturing discuss the latest wrinkle in US-China relations after Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng asked for asylum in America.
“He did not want to make all his friends who helped him, and are helping him, feel embarrassed and have misunderstandings, for example, the U.S. Embassy's help in the past, he never criticized it, on the contrary, he is only grateful for it. Thank you everyone,” Guo said.
Guo declined to comment to NBC News.
Gu Bo, of NBC News, other NBC News staff, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Just what we need - more people on goverment money, oh, that's tax payer money. Can we vote these morons out of office? Hillary is just in it for publicly, let's get Jeese Jackson and Al Sharpton in on it also.
That's all we need another zip in our country. Leave the blind fool there to rot. He deserves NOTHING from us. I'll bet he would be paying all the expenses to make the journey. Fricking bunch of crap. Stupid ARS!!
first of all this man can kiss my grits..we dont need him here causing any more trouble..it is none of our business..im a 100% disable combat veteran
There is a "lady" here named Katlan Jones that apparently loves to have abortions but doesn't want to pay for them. She is complaining that she is FORCED to pay, likely by a collection agency.
That is outrageous, such cominist nazi like her should be deported to Red Chehoslovakia
Alex, That has nothing to do with this article.. You need to check witch thread you are attaching to.. OOPS... Gotta go.. I'm late for my abortion appointment. It's cheaper then The Pill...
look at the first page of this thread, you'll find the abortionist Nazi Katlin Jones there
I have a friend that has been waiting a year for her husband to come to the US to be with her and their son, they are processing he papers. Maybe he should complain about his government and he could be here next week. She is a US citizen her husband is PHILIPPINE.
Why the F*CK are the repugnicans making ANY comments about an ongoing delicate international diplomatic incident?
If they want to bitch, let them do it AFTER the issue has been resolved one way or another...you don't start mouthing off in the middle of this incident as it could derail ongoing negotiations...
Once again, Romney has shown a SERIOUS lack of judgement when it comes to foreign policy.
What a f*ckup!
This person given all his education has no idea what the US has to go through to accomplish this. No common sense on his part and all he sees a better life ahead.
He's a bug in the human right policy. He's planned this for years - all for himself.
Now seriously, it is clear that the guy is crazy. He needs help, but not from US unless it is in a form of psychiatrist. I read how he escaped from 100 policemen by scaling the wall and swimming across the river being blind, now he wants to "kiss Hilary Clinton" and fly on her plane... That story only underlines how easy every scandalous information is accepted and exploited here -- in case it fits the main propaganda scenario. I mean the forced sterilization etc. How do we know it is true? I remember another hero who exposed mobile WMD program in Iraq, what was his code name?
How patronizing one must be to look at the hahallucinating psycho with such admiration? Who would listen to him is he were an American in America? But he is Chinese and as such is allowed to demand a kiss from a secretary of state without losing his credibility. Have it ever occurred to you that Chinese might be smarter and definitely are better educated than Americans?
Now that we know that our political system is ran by the billionaires in America, we don't have to pretend that the president is at fault for anything. He is doing as much as he can considering the restraints placed on him by the true leaders. Based on the things America claims it stands for, there is no reason for our country to be conducting business in China. The only reason they do so is because the super rich profits from it. The rich is a threat to our government and the American people. I often wonder why we don't have an open relationship with Cuba, when they are far less abusive than China? Could it be that Cuba has nothing to offer the rich, or is it that the Cubans in Florida holds the state hostage when it comes to elections? Wake up America. China, and our powerless government, is the tool of the rich. Our government has been hijacked by the super rich, and it supports policies that allow them to profit at any cost to the nation. Unfortunately, being a nation divided by political views and racial issues, we can't do a damn thing about it. If we don't soon start behaving as mature citizens, our country will be destroyed by the super rich right before our eyes. America, place your petty personal feelings aside, unite as a people, and force our government to stand up to the economically powerful. Unless we stand behind them, they are not going to confront them. The rich is powerful, and can be a threat to anyone who stands in their way. Politicians come and go, but the powerful organizations that the rich belong to are securely grounded and more powerful than ever.
Politicians seek office so they may sell their votes to the highest bidder. No sane person would spend the money they spend on being elected if there wasn't great rewards to be gained in return. The corruption is out of control in Washington. Wake up people.
Excellent post Tyrone - it should be reposted in every political story. Those abusing Capitalism are going to be the downfall of it.
yeah sure lets give this guy a free ride to our schools, heck our kids cant afford the schools anyway. Might as well give the education away to some foreign trouble maker. Way to go clinton.
Dionysus, and once again his hypocrisy shows up in spades "politicizing" an issue. On top of that, he's jumping into an area where he has absolutely no experience and is not even close to having all of the information he would need for an intelligent position.
It would have been nice to see him come to the defense of the guy that quit his staff... Coward. Just the kind of "man" we need in the WH, eh?
Makes me wonder if his 'Foreign Policy' advisor had not quit over the whole gay issue if Romney would not have put his foot so far up his mouth...that is what this advisor was for...situations like this.
Romney should have been told to STFU until the whole issue had been resolved.
Stupidity on a grand scale.
Hey Obama don't forget to give him the mansion fully furnished and a nice hefty 25 thousand a month so he can enjoy his life on the People Of AMERICA. He's a criminal and he belongs behind bars not in the US sponging off of the tax payer.
Romney makes 25,000 dollars an hour...maybe he could be tapped to pay for it since he is SO freaking concerned about this mans freedom and the freedom of all Chinese.
Put you money where your mouth is plastic man!
Clinton and Obama both do not have son. May be they can adopt him and save American Taxpayer money.
Do we need one more right wing christian dude saying abortion is wrong while he himself is unwilling to make sacrifices and work for his cause in China.
This one will bite Hillary when she goes out for woman's right to chose. Chen will be standing in dooe, hey Miss, what do you mean by what you said? Do you want to kill babies?
Please: Do not put to much into this story, it is another false flag op. This is only to discredit China to piss them off into doing something stupid. Hilliary Clit- ton is playing both China and the U.S. public. She is the whore to the beast. They are lieing to you, this is just another bull@!$%# story set up by the Globalist Cabal on behalf of the New World Order.
I find it so strange that the Occupy Movement wants total government control and the destruction of big business so America can be like China.
wrong, guess again. Occupiers want GREED and CORRUPTION out of GOV. Not an end to it. Know your facts before you post.
Hillary is getting quite the resume for a 2016 run.
She would make an excellent prez....she is a cold stoned international playa now...
Hillary is an Ugly old bag and should retire. President. Give me a break. What we should do is exchange Hillary for the Chinese guy.
Blessed Person... Wrong. Secretary Clinton is in it because IT'S HER JOB! Sheesh...
Alison, we can always count on an intelligent entry from the right. Thanks for not disapointing. Oh, and please give us a list of his crimes when you get a sec, okay hon?.
Yeah, right! Any of you out there have kids who applied to college or graduate school? This cat, (sorry) gets a FELLOWSHIP to an American University, with No Recommendations, NO transcripts, NO SAT or GRE, NO MAJOR, and (apparently) FREE Housing for his family. Wow. And Just WHO will support this sucker? Our children are saddled in debt from student loans! Next, he will produce a Hawaii birth-certificate and run for President of the United States. Bad, Bad, Bad!
To the COWBOY:
Are you a cowboy or a camel boy?
Every single person, dem or repub, pundit or lobbyist, should just STFU until this is resolved one way or another.
Get over yourselves.
You teapublicans are priceless! Mittens, Fox, and their mindless viewers spent the last couple of days frothing at the mouth and blasting away how badly Obama was handling this entire ordeal without one iota of fact to base it on. I was laughing at how over the top Fox coverage was trying to say we are putting this guy and his family in imminent danger by not grabbing him and putting him on a plane immediately. Now that the facts are starting to come out and a solution is about in place - you are already b!tching about bringing Chen here to the US as a student. I am still laughing at how much egg Mittens already has on his face over this!!! Obama doesn't even have to campaign against this tool - just let him keep shoving his foot in his mouth on every issue and that will be quite enough for people to run away from him in droves.
Why the HELL do they want to bring that guy here?? Don't we have enough AMERICANS waitng to get welfare, health care, decent housing, food stamps, etc. etc. We have war veterans living under bridges, women and children living on the streets or in homeless shelters. Leave that guy in China where the hell he belongs. We are taking care of enough Foreigners now as it is.
As much as you feel bad about this guy, he used both countries at a very important time to get what a selfish person would want, his way. Which countris systems are perfect? Who dosen't want things his or her way? How could he get a way from a big powerful system like that, if he was in as much trouble as he says he was or is or whatever? I think, he just made a big joke out of big countries to get his way. We have millions of our own people that need help, yet we offer everything to the problems of other countries like there are no problems here.
He's a bug in the human right policy. He's planned this for times - all for himself.
stay in china , we do not need you to come to usa