Chen Guangcheng, jailed and persecuted by the Chinese government for his work exposing forced abortions, forced sterilizations, and other horrors of China’s one-child policy, was pressured by the U.S. embassy in China to leave the U.S. embassy earlier this week, returning to the mercies of the regime that hates him.
Chen, who is blind, had escaped from brutal extralegal house arrest into the safety of the U.S. embassy. While there, he didn’t intend to leave China. He wanted to stay, and continue to fight against China’s brutal one-child policy. But now, days after his release, he’s changed his mind, and wants to get out of that country.
CNN interviewed Chen this morning. Here are the most upsetting passages, in my opinion:
A: I think it’s time for me to make such a choice.
Q: Why?
A: For safety.
Q: Fear for your life or your family’s?
A: Both…..
A: The embassy kept lobbying me to leave and promised to have people stay with me in the hospital. But this afternoon as soon as I checked into the hospital room, I noticed they were all gone.
Q: Has the U.S. disappointed you?
A: I’m very disappointed at the U.S. government.
Q: Why?
A: I don’t think (U.S. officials) protected human rights in this case…. (My wife) was tied to a chair by police for two days. Then they carried sticks to our home, threatening to beat her to death….
Q: Is it true no one from the embassy picked up your calls?
A: Yes. I called two embassy people numerous times.
Q: Do you feel you were lied to by the embassy?
A: I feel a little like that.
It seems clear to me that it was bad judgment by us to pressure him to leave the embassy.
Was this amateurism by the U.S. State Department? Was it rank disregard for human rights in the face of a powerful trading partner and creditor? Did the Obama administration’s disregard for Chen have anything to do with the politically uncomfortable nature of his advocacy — that it involved abortion?
