Chen Guangcheng is a Chinese lawyer who has been battling China’s forced abortion policy. For his efforts, he has been in and out of prison since 2005. After his last release in 2010, Mr. Chen has been under house arrest even though he has not been charged with a crime. That means that his home is surrounded by armed plain-clothed guards who prevent him and his wife from leaving and from receiving any visitors.
Last week Mr. Chen somehow escaped and made his way 300 miles to Beijing. Oh, yes. Mr. Chen is totally blind.
He has reportedly taken refuge in the U. S. Embassy. American diplomats are saying that this comes at the worse possible time because Secretary of State Clinton and Treasury Secretary Geithner are coming to Beijing this week for high-level talks and they fear the incident may harm relations between the two countries.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In