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WASHINGTON (AP) — A tentative deal to allow activist Chinese lawyer Chen Guangcheng to study in the United States serves as a face-saving measure for all involved: Washington can say it safeguarded human rights, Beijing can point to its cooperative diplomacy and Chen gets a new start in America.
After a week of hectic back-and-forth negotiations and Chen's own flip-flop on staying in China,
Friday's announcements by U.S. and Chinese officials pointed to a
positive end for a standoff that embarrassed the Chinese government by
shining a light on its human rights record and put President Barack Obama in a tight spot while campaigning for re-election.
Several
steps remain before Chen can take up an academic fellowship in the U.S.
But the speed with which a near-calamity was resolved illustrates the
maturing partnership between the world's biggest powers, after years of
stumbling over lesser disputes.
"It
is a testament to how far we've come in building a strong and resilient
relationship and being able to have very candid open discussions about
issues where there is disagreement, without it endangering the entire
range of significant matters that we are working on together," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday in Beijing.
Chen,
a blind, self-taught lawyer, has emerged as a symbol of the Chinese
civil rights movement after exposing forced abortions and
sterilizations as part of China's one-child policy and then enduring
almost seven years of prison and house arrest. His dramatic, nighttime
escape last week from local authorities into the halls of the U.S.
Embassy — just before Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
were to arrive for unrelated meetings — had all the ingredients for a
diplomatic fiasco.
The escape
forced the Obama administration to balance its defense of an
internationally renowned human rights defender against its courting of
the Chinese to help advance the global economic recovery and deal with
North Korea and Iran.
It
presented tough choices, too, for Beijing, whose violent crackdown on
pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen Square 23 years ago is the
portrait of its human rights behavior retained by much of the world.
Chinese leaders still are extremely concerned about internal security
and chafe at any foreign criticism of the nation's domestic affairs.
But China has also become increasingly conscious of its global image.
Somehow
the worst was avoided this time. Eschewing the public grandstanding
that has long prompted the Chinese to dig in their heels, U.S.
officials worked behind the scenes to first secure a deal that saw Chen
leave the embassy on Wednesday to be reunited with his family and
receive hospital care. Clinton avoided shaming China publicly. She
issued one written statement but said nothing else.
When on Wednesday Chen
backed out of the deal and demanded to leave China, officials from both
sides hammered out a second compromise within 48 hours. The
understanding came even as Clinton and Geithner were holding sensitive
talks with the Chinese on issues such as currency, trade and
territorial claims in the resource-rich South China Sea.
When she finally spoke, Clinton was able to deliver positive news.
"Over
the course of the day, progress has been made to help him have the
future that he wants," she told reporters after the strategic talks.
But she also sought to drive home Washington's message that the cause
of human rights wasn't thrown aside. She said the administration would
continue to engage China's government at the highest levels and put
"these concerns at the heart of our diplomacy."
"This
is not just about well-known activists," Clinton said. "It's about the
human rights and aspirations of more than a billion people here in
China and billions more around the world. And it's about the future of
this great nation and all nations."
China
played its part by not letting the dispute sour talks with the U.S.
across the board, and by tamping down the nationalist fervor that has
accompanied previous public spats. China's top diplomat, Dai Bingguo,
called the week's broader meeting a "tremendous" success, and its final
day was accompanied by the breakthrough on Chen's future. The Chinese
Foreign Ministry soberly announced that he could leave the country with
his wife and two children.
The
arrangement is incomplete and may not satisfy Obama's critics.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney assailed Obama on
Thursday over the terms of the first deal, which would have allowed
Chen and his family to relocate in China while he attended a Chinese
law school.
"If these reports are true, this is a dark day for
freedom and it's a day of shame for the Obama administration," Romney
said, campaigning in Virginia.
Republicans
in Congress weighed in, too, saying Friday they'd hold a hearing and
demand all State Department cable traffic concerning Chen.
And
the president wasn't shielded from criticism on the left from a human
rights community that has been one of his core constituencies.
Frank
Jannuzi of Amnesty International voiced concern Friday about possible
"retributive actions" in China against Chen's extended family and
supporters. The fates of Chen's missing elder brother and nephew are
unknown, as is that of the woman who helped him escape, leaving the
administration vulnerable to the charge that it has abandoned these
people.
For China, Chen's
actions presented a new test of its ability to work with its on-and-off
adversary Washington while dealing with Communist Party critics at home
who are increasingly speaking out, often online.
Giving
in to Washington would have angered the nationalists. An overly harsh
response might have elevated Chen further in the eyes of dissidents,
emboldening their challenge to the party's grip on power. Either way, a
lengthy, messy affair would have done little to bolster China's image
at a time it is spending big to appear as a less scary, more accessible
power with cultural influence alongside its economic heft.
"The
sides have handled it in a practical way," said Peking University
international relations expert Zhu Feng. She said human rights will
remain contentious but neither side is letting any single issue
dominate the discussion.
The
analysis echoes American officials, who have praised China for learning
to compartmentalize its disputes with the U.S. so that progress can
occur on separate issues. Underscoring that ability, China's defense
minister plans to visit the Pentagon next week for the first time in
nine years despite the Chen flap and lingering tensions over U.S. arms
sales to Taiwan.
The symbolic
elements of the U.S.-Chinese deal were also important. Instead of
spiriting Chen out of the country on Clinton's plane, as some Chinese
dissidents demanded, the Chinese government said he could go abroad
under normal procedures. The declaration sought to show that Beijing,
not Washington, was in control.
Chen
looks set to get what he wants. He has pleaded with international media
and U.S. lawmakers for sanctuary in the United States, repeating since
leaving the embassy that he is unsafe as long as he remains in China.
But to get his wish, Chen may have to apply for a passport from his
home county, where authorities have beaten him and his family for their
activism.
Asked about the
potential pitfall, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said he had no
information. And U.S. officials also couldn't say what guarantees were
in place to ensure Chen can return if he wants to. Several Chinese
dissidents have left for the U.S., only to have their passports revoked.
Jerome
Cohen, a law professor at New York University who advised Chen, said he
hoped Chen could make it to the U.S. sometime this summer. He said
there is an open invitation at his school, but he acknowledged that
Chen was now a man in demand.
"He may have lot of other alternatives," Cohen said.
___
EDITOR'S
NOTE — Bradley Klapper covers foreign policy for The Associated Press.
Christopher Bodeen has covered Chinese foreign policy in Beijing and
Shanghai since 2000.
An AP News Analysis
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