Reports are that Chen's been offered a fellowship at an American university, and that it includes provisions for his wife and two kids to join him. Beijing authorities have said they'll approve the travel documents needed.
No mention of Chen's siblings, who still live in Shandong and whom Chen has expressed concern for. Still, this is a promising development, and it makes me think Gary Locke and his staff understand how the system operates over there. Finding a creative way to relabel asylum into something that allows Beijing to say, "No, no...he's still a happy, loyal Chinese citizen...he's just on a really, really long field trip", is a masterstroke.
Sadly, it also means the pressure to investigate and remove corrupt officials in Shandong will be lessened. Hopefully the next time provincial chairs come up for rotation, they'll put a young reform-minded crusader into Shandong to help clean up the place. And hopefully that crusader will last more than a year or two before being bought by the powers that be.
Also sadly, the bulk of public comments on CNN re: this are along the lines of "Great, another immigrant troublemaker that the taxpayers will be paying for." The second most common are old lame jokes around Chinese names. Chen laoshi, are you really sure this is where you want to come??
Author
Topic: Chen Guangcheng (Read 7577 times)