Chen Guangcheng And U.S.-China Relations

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng makes a daring escape. We’ll examine his fate and impact on US-China relations.

Blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng wanted the law followed in China.  For Chinese authorities, that was too much.

When Chen took up the case of women forced to have abortions, he ended up in prison.  Then under informal house arrest, surrounded by goons.

A week ago, in an incredible escape, the blind lawyer crawled over the back wall of his house and, eventually, into US protection.  Now he’s at the center of a major diplomatic tangle between the world’s two biggest powers.

This hour, On Point:  Chinese law, human rights, the United States, and the case of self-taught lawyer Chen.
-Tom Ashbrook

Barbara Demick, Beijing bureau chief, Los Angeles Times.

Jerome Cohen, co-director of New York University School of Law's U.S.-Asia Law Institute.

Sharon Hom, executive director, Human Rights in China, which promotes democratic reforms in China and has offices in New York and Hong Kong.

ABC News "Top officials from the U.S. and China are locked in intense meetings regarding the fate of activist Chen Guangcheng, according to a U.S. based advocacy group. "

Washington Post "U.S. and Chinese officials are ironing out a deal to secure American asylum for a blind Chinese legal activist who fled house arrest, with an agreement likely before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives this week, a U.S. rights campaigner said Monday."