Secret talks & Chen's escape saga
Beijing, May 3: Injuries suffered in the course of a daring night-time escape. A covert appeal from underground activists to top state department officials for humanitarian protection. A car chase through the streets of Beijing to spirit a dissident to safety inside the fortified American embassy.
Those are among the new details that emerged yesterday from the 10-day saga of Chen Guangcheng, the blind rights lawyer who escaped house arrest in rural Shandong province, and then, after managing to reach Beijing and come under American protection, was the subject of a series of highly unusual secret negotiations with the Chinese government.
The story involved intrigue, heroics and ultimately what some of the people involved called a betrayal. And it is a tale, related by activists, friends of Chen's and embassy officials, that so far does not have a clear ending, with Chen expressing new fears about his safety if he remains in China.
The seeds of Chen's remarkable flight were planted months ago, friends and supporters said, when he and his wife began plotting his escape from the farmhouse where they had been confined since his release from jail in September 2010.
Although there were no legal charges pending against the couple, local officials had decided to turn their home into a makeshift prison with high walls, well-paid guards and sheets of metal to cover their windows. The local government's goal was two-fold: to prevent Chen from engaging in his legal work against coercive family-planning policies and to keep the couple cut off from the outside world.
When the Chens broke the rules — by trying to sneak out messages or secretly detailing their mistreatment in a homemade video — they were viciously beaten.
As part of the plan, Chen feigned sickness for weeks, tricking his minders into thinking he was bedridden. Then, on a moonless night on April 22, he began his mad dash from Dongshigu village, heaving himself over the first of several walls while the guards slept. It was during the first few minutes of his scramble that Chen severely injured his foot. In all, he told friends he fell 200 times as he made his made his way to a predetermined pick-up point.
Once there, he slid a battery into the cellphone he had in his pocket and called He Peirong, a former English teacher from the distant city of Nanjing. He was part of a loose network of freelance rights advocates who had been trying to draw attention to his plight for more than a year.
She had tried in previous months to visit Chen and his wife several times. Each attempt was repelled by the guards at Dongshigu's entry points. Sometimes they beat her, and on one occasion the men robbed her of her money and cellphone and then dumped her in a faraway field.
Civil disobedience, she had told friends, was having little impact.
With Chen in her car, a decision had to be made: try to surreptitiously leave the country through the help of Christian activists, or stay in an attempt to establish an independent life within China. "Chen made it clear that he had no interest in becoming an exile," said Bob Fu, an exiled Chinese dissident whose organisation, ChinaAid, has helped others make the overland escape. "He wanted to stay in China and try to make things better."
He followed Chen's wishes and drove him more than 483km to the capital. There, he was taken in by a knot of devoted supporters who made sure he slept in a different apartment each night while they tried to come up with a plan.
"By the time I saw him he was in so much pain from his injury he couldn't even stand," said Hu Jia, a dissident in Beijing who taunted the authorities by posting on the Internet photos of their meeting. "Our main goal was to get him to a safe place."
It was decided that only the American embassy could provide that kind of protection. Another friend first contacted the embassy, explaining that Chen had a serious foot injury and needed help, according to an American official involved in the discussions.
The matter was quickly brought to the attention of Harold Koh, the state department legal adviser who was in China on another matter. After consulting senior state department officials, Koh determined that Chen's injury and blindness qualified him for short-term humanitarian assistance in a "good Samaritan way", one of the officials said.
A rendezvous point was agreed upon in an area some kilometres west of the embassy where an official car would meet the vehicle carrying Chen. The plan was for the lawyer to be helped into the embassy car.
But as the two vehicles were about to converge, the Americans noticed Chinese security cars tailing them, one behind the embassy car, the other behind the car with Chen and his friend, an American official who was briefed on the events said.
It was clear the handoff would have to happen in a rush. As Chen's car moved into an alley, the embassy vehicle drew alongside, and the lawyer was pulled into the American vehicle. The Americans evaded the two Chinese cars and headed for the embassy, the official said.
Once he was safely inside a US Marine dormitory, American diplomats imposed an information blackout — even refusing to confirm whether Chen was in their hands — as they negotiated his fate with senior foreign ministry officials.
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE
Secret talks & Chen’s escape saga
