Page 1 of
2 The
anatomy of Chen's change of
heart By Peter Lee
It
must have been a bizarre feeling for the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP): holding the political
future of President Barack Obama in its hands.
A risky and hasty deal negotiated by the
US State Department had led to the departure of
Chinese rights activist Chen Guangcheng from the
protection of the US Embassy in Beijing, and
placed him in Chaoyang Hospital, within the
baleful shadow of the People's Republic of China's
(PRC) security forces.
If China's rulers
had decided they wanted to see a new occupant of
the White House come February 2013, bundling Chen
Guangcheng out of the hospital and into a waiting
van for interrogation, detention, and/or worse
would probably have done
the trick.
The man
who very much wants to take that seat in the White
House, Mitt Romney, was poised to pounce.
On May 3, when the Chen deal experienced
one of its severe and well-advertised hiccups,
Romney declared:
It's also apparent, according to
these reports if they're accurate, that our
embassy failed to put in place the kind of
verifiable measures that would assure the safety
of Mr Chen and his family. If these reports are
true, this is a dark day for freedom and it's a
day of shame for the Obama administration. We
are a place of freedom, here and around the
world, and we should stand up and defend freedom
wherever it is under attack.
[1]
Fortunately for Obama, the PRC's
security apparatus, obviously responding to orders
from on high, has been treating Chen with kid
gloves - though it must be pointed out this tender
treatment has not extended to friends trying to
visit him at the hospital, one of whom, Jiang
Tianyong , was taken away for interrogation and
had his ears severely boxed.
Journalists
have not been welcomed at the hospital either.
This probably has less to do with limiting
world access to Chen Chengguang than preventing a
high-profile anti-government rumpus at the doors
of the hospital.
A trend of friends and
supporters visiting (or, more accurately trying to
visit) Chen while he was held under illegal house
arrest in the remote village of Dongshigu in
central Shandong province had already created a
public relations nightmare for the Chinese
government.
Replicating such a scene in
front of a hospital in central Beijing under the
foreign media spotlight would be a spectacle the
Chinese government would be extremely keen to
avoid.
Meanwhile, in the hospital
recovering from broken bones in his foot incurred
during his escape, and a persistent case of
gastroenteritis, Chen has had broad cell phone
access to the foreign media, including the
Associated Press, the Washington Post and the New
York Times.
The net result of these
intensive communications has been a media circus
that has cast doubts on the deal and the honesty
and competence of the State Department, and
shifted the focus on the blind Chen away from his
courageous activism of the past decade to his
anxious and indecisive handwringing of the last
two weeks.
It is indisputable that Chen
escaped house arrest and came to Beijing with the
intent of publicizing the intolerable treatment he
and his family were suffering while under illegal
house arrest in Shandong. After arriving Beijing
and before entering the embassy, Chen recorded a
video statement calling on Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao to investigate the circumstances of his
detention and deal with the local officials
responsible for his ill treatment.
Then
Chen entered the US Embassy on the eve of the
arrival of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for the
US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue.
Again, it appears clear that Chen wished
to remain in China but out of the reach of his
tormenters in Shandong, and obtain guarantees for
the continued safety and freedom for himself and
his family. Quite reasonably, he assumed that the
intercession of the United States on his behalf
with the highest levels of the Chinese government
was the most practical way of achieving his
objectives.
Prolonged refuge in the
embassy, followed by expulsion from China and
eventual asylum in the United States, as occurred
in the case of Fang Lizhi in 1989-1990, appears to
have been off the agenda.
Instead, the US
State Department and ambassador Gary Locke, with
Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell on the
scene and New York University professor and China
legal expert Jerome Cohen assisting from afar,
negotiated an unprecedented understanding with the
Chinese government that would involve Chen
relocating to a less hostile part of the country -
possibly Tianjin - with his family to engage in
legal studies.
Then confusion and
uncertainty began to roil this brave project,
largely fomented by Chen's friends and supporters
who were dead set against the deal.
Teng
Biao, the lawyer who had assisted Chen in his
investigations and also defended him in Chinese
court, posted the transcript of a telephone
conversation with Chen in the hospital. Teng is
intimately familiar with Chinese government
repression, having experienced two bouts of
detention, and is now residing in Guangdong under
government surveillance.
Although his most
recent release was achieved through US
intercession at the US-China human-rights
dialogue, he does not appear sanguine about the
prospects for meaningful protection inside China
under the American aegis.
One might say
that Teng Biao is not Chen Guangcheng, and Teng's
arrangement, unlike Chen's, was not negotiated at
the higher levels of the US and Chinese
governments with the promise of a presidential
statement and official communique, and therefore
the source of Teng's vociferous conviction that
the deal would inevitably go bad is something of a
mystery.
However, Professor Perry Link,
who stood by Fang Lizhi and his family when they
went through the embassy refuge process in 1989,
told Asia Times Online: "Some people criticize
Teng for pressing his own opinion too much. But
last spring Teng was treated extremely harshly
during his "disappearance", so personally I find
it hard to criticize Teng too much."
From
Teng's side, at least, the phone call (whose
transcript was posted on an image-sharing service)
reads like a scripted brief against Chen accepting
the deal and staying in China.
Teng Biao: One more
thing, you know what the Foreign Ministry
spokesperson said about your case?
Chen Guangcheng: I don't
know.
TB: Very harsh
words, not an ounce of friendliness to be found
in there. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu
Weimin said, "It should be pointed out that Chen
Guangcheng, a Chinese citizen, was taken by the
US side to the US Embassy in Beijing via
abnormal means, and the Chinese side is strongly
dissatisfied with the move.
"What the US
side has done has interfered in the domestic
affairs of China, and the Chinese side will
never accept it. China demands that the United
States thoroughly investigate the event, hold
relevant people accountable and ensure that such
an event does not happen again." Very tough
words. It is absolutely unbelievable that they
will stick to their promise and not punish
anyone afterwards. This promise will last at the
most one to two weeks. If you stay on in China,
it's going to be very dangerous for you.
TB: ... I heard you're
going back to school to study, where will that
be?
CGC: Yes, but I
haven't decided where.
TB:
Guangcheng, you absolutely must not do
this. It's going to be very dangerous for you to
stay on in China. Seriously.
CGC: [Silence]
TB: I suggest you get back
to the embassy as soon as possible.
CGC: That's not possible
now.
TB: Is the embassy
not allowing you back? Or is the Chinese
government not allowing you back?
CGC: I ...
TB: Guangcheng, even if
you told the embassy you won't ever go back,
there's still time for you to change your mind,
and it would be totally understandable. Please
reconsider this whole thing. You know - Kegui,
Chen Hua and everyone at home is in a very
dangerous situation. Pearl's been taken away.
Even if you're not considering this for
yourself, then at least for your family and for
those that tried to help you, you should try to
get back to the embassy and make your way to the
US.
TB: Jinyan went online
with your story. Now she's being watched too and
there's no way to reach her. While Hillary
Clinton is still in Beijing and while the
world's still watching, there's still time for
you to make amends. Any later and it will be all
too late. Today I saw on the Internet that
Clinton was saying that everything was being
done according to your wishes and US values.
Your wish is top priority. Can you please give
them a call? Will you?
CGC: I understand. [2]
Chen experienced a change of heart
and his supporters in the United States leapt into
action, led by Bob Fu of China Aid, an
non-governmental organization in Midland, Texas,
that lobbies on behalf of Christian house churches
in China and has close links to Chen
Guangcheng.
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
