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Video at link. A US-based human rights group says the nephew of Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has been arrested on suspicion of murder. It says the arrest was made in revenge for Chen's actions. ChinaAid Association on Friday revealed the photo of a notification of arrest issued by police authorities in Shandong Province. The notice says the arrest took place on Wednesday. The group quoted the nephew's lawyer as saying that he wounded 3 intruders with a knife at his home in Shandong Province on April 26th after noticing that his parents had been beaten up. More than 20 people...

Online, where the audacity of defiance remains anonymous, tens of thousands of Chinese “netizens” rejoiced this week over news of the daring escape of blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng. China’s censors rushed to block all Internet analysis of the case by shutting down social media discussions that used phrases such as Mr. Chen’s name, his initials, the words “U.S. embassy” or even “blind man.” As usual, China’s innovative Internet users got around the problem, with a variety of deceptions to keep the debate raging. Some people referred to Mr. Chen as “A Bing,” a famous blind folk singer. But...

The celebrated deal that would have ensured that blind dissident Chen Guangcheng would stay in China began to dissolve publicly with a tweet: “GUANGCHENG TALKED TO ME. WHAT MEDIA REPORTED IS WRONG.” The unsettling Twitter message from Beijing activist Zeng Jinyan began a firestorm of debate over whether Chen had been coerced into the deal with threats to his family, an alarming idea that gutted the most important promise behind the agreement -- that Chen would be kept safe.

BEIJING (CNN) -- China said Friday that the Chinese activist at the center of a diplomatic storm has the right to apply to study abroad... If Chen Guangcheng wants to go overseas to study, "as a Chinese citizen, he may apply like other Chinese citizens"... ....[SNIP].... The Chinese comments came as U.S.diplomats spoke by phone with Chen, who is currently in a Beijing hospital. The officials also met with Chen's wife,Yuan Weijing, in person, according to a senior State Department official who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. The U.S. officials had been scheduled to...

No good deed goes unpunished; this must be what US Ambassador to China Gary Locke must have been thinking as a firestorm of criticism erupted over his embassy’s handling of the Chen Guangcheng case. Under great pressure, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner arriving for high profile talks with China’s leadership, the embassy and colleagues in the State Department including Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs Kurt Campbell had negotiated a delicate deal with Chinese counterparts that Chen accepted. Negotiated with the involvement of top legal scholar Jerome Cohen, and based on a...

The State Department confirmed this morning that it’s reached a deal with the Chinese government in the case of blind dissident Chen Guangcheng: The Chinese Government stated today that Mr. Chen Guangcheng has the same right to travel abroad as any other citizen of China. Mr. Chen has been offered a fellowship from an American university, where he can 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.

Both China and the US acted overnight to bring an embarrassing string of incidents with dissident Chen Guangcheng to a rapid conclusion. Beijing announced earlier that they would look favorably on a request from Chen to "study abroad", which would rid them of the international focus on their repressive regime that suddenly erupted this week: ChinaÂ’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the dissident Chen Guangcheng can apply to study outside China in the same manner as more than 300,000 Chinese students already abroad, signaling a possible breakthrough in a diplomatic crisis that has deeply embarrassed the White House and...

Over the last several days the sad, confusing and now disheartening saga of a courageous man named Chen Guangcheng has filled the news. Much of the focus seems to be on who botched this entire affair diplomatically, rather than the even more important underlying issues. Chen is a 40 year old Chinese citizen who taught himself the law and, as a human rights lawyer, courageously stands up against the evil, inhumane and barbaric forced abortion and sterilization policies of the nation he loves, the Peoples Republic of China. Chen was released from jail in 2010 and placed under house arrest....

The State Department painted it as an elegant way out of a ballooning crisis involving Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng — but by day’s end, it looked like a disgraceful performance by US diplomats. Initial reports had Chen so pleased by the deal that he told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “I want to kiss you.” The agreement Clinton negotiated with Beijing yesterday supposedly allowed Cheng to stay in China and get medical attention, with the authorities guaranteeing his future safety. But things started unraveling just hours after the compromise was inked. First, while State claims Chen never wanted to leave...

Fatal mistake: Chinese pro-life activist seeking help from US government American authorities deceive Chinese activist and deliver him to the den of Chinese communist lions By Julio Severo Chen Guangcheng, a pro-life activist in China, made the fatal mistake of seeking help from the US Embassy in China. Chen Guangcheng He was under house arrest in his home province, but other human rights activists made enormous sacrifices, risking their lives to elaborate a plan for him to flee to the US Embassy, where everyone thought refuge was guaranteed. Everyone hoped he would ask for asylum, but the developments, unfolding in...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House is sidestepping questions about how the U.S. might resolve the predicament surrounding a blind Chinese activist who sought refuge in the American embassy and who no longer wants to remain China. White House spokesman Jay Carney referred questions about asylum for the activist, Chen Guangcheng, to the State Department.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast’s Melinda Liu, blind dissident Chen Guangcheng says he’s been abandoned by American officials at a Chinese hospital and begs to leave the country on Hillary Clinton’s plane. I’ve known Chen Guangcheng for more than a decade—he’s been through intimidation, beatings, jail, and extralegal house arrest—but through it all I never sensed he was scared. Now he’s scared. Chen, whose case has escalated into a bilateral crisis that threatens to dominate Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Beijing this week, was weeping as he talked to me over the phone from his...

Blind Chinese Human Rights activist causes diplomatic crisis after asking Hillary Clinton to take him back to the US on her plane. The blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng was prepared to spend years in the US embassy in Beijing if necessary as he weighed his next move after escaping house arrest, the US ambassador has said. But the future of the "barefoot lawyer" and his family is now uncertain, after he agreed to a deal allowing him to stay in China and study, with assurances from the government, only to then change his mind and ask to go to the...

A little over 12 hours after blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng was released from the U.S. embassy in Beijing, which he had fled to after escaping house arrest, Chen now says that American officials encouraged him to leave the safe haven of the embassy building, in part by making promises that they failed to keep. In an interview with CNN's Steven Jiang, he expressed deep disappointment with the U.S. and with President Barack Obama personally. He said that embassy officials were no longer picking up his calls and that he already felt his rights being "violated" by the Chinese government,...

He looked reasonably cheerful in photos with U.S. officials after the deal was made. Then, just a few hours later, he told CNN, “We are in danger. If you can talk to Hillary, I hope she can help my whole family leave China.” The most logical explanation for the sudden turnabout is that China reneged on its deal with the U.S. once they had Chen back in custody, but that would be a huge betrayal at a moment when Hillary’s in the country for talks on a variety of issues. I guess it’s possible that the State Department really did...

Blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng said a U.S. official told him that Chinese authorities threatened to beat his wife to death had he not left the American Embassy. Speaking by phone from his hospital room in Beijing on Wednesday night, a shaken Chen told The Associated Press that U.S. officials relayed the threat from the Chinese side. After six days in hiding, Chen emerged from the embassy Wednesday after U.S. officials said China had assured his safety. His account contrasts with earlier comments by Chen's supporters saying that he had vowed to stay in China to continue his activism. He...

Exclusive: Chen Guangcheng tells Channel 4 News he left the US embassy for hospital as part of an "agreement" with the Chinese government, but despite promises, no-one from the US embassy is with him. Chen had been under protection at the US embassy in Beijing after escaping from house arrest last Friday. He left the embassy for hospital on Wednesday morning, although he told Channel 4 News this was part of an agreement with the Chinese government rather than because of a medical emergency. "Nobody from the (US) Embassy is here. I don't understand why. They promised to be here,"...

The Chinese government issued a stern warning to the United States on Wednesday after blind dissident Chen Guangcheng ended his weeklong stay at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, saying officials were "strongly dissatisfied with the move" to shelter the activist and demanded an apology from Washington. The scolding tone of the message delivered by a Foreign Ministry official and reported by state-run media raised concerns about China's commitment to whatever assurances officials gave U.S. diplomats during behind-the-scenes negotiations that appeared to resolve the embarrassing standoff. "It should be pointed out that Chen Guangcheng, a Chinese citizen, was taken by the...

The story of Chinese democracy activist Chen Guangcheng took a bizarre turn this morning. The dissident escaped house arrest and ended up at the US embassy in Beijing, with an injury to his foot in the escape. The US then announced that they had negotiated safe passage to a hospital with the Chinese government, where Chen could be reunited with his family. However, the AP reported a few minutes ago that the US told him that if he didn't leave, the Beijing government would beat his wife to death ... and now he fears for his life: Blind legal activist...

A blind Chinese legal activist who was at the center of a diplomatic tussle between Washington and Beijing left the U.S. Embassy Wednesday to receive medical care in Beijing and be reunited with this family. Guangcheng said via his lawyer that he is free and has received "clear assurances" from the Chinese government. A U.S. official said Chen did not ask for asylum and is staying in China after receiving assurances that he will be treated as a normal citizen. The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters that Chinese authorities promised that Chen would be relocated to...