A blind Chinese activist was hurriedly taken from a hospital yesterday and boarded a plane that took off for the US, closing a nearly month-long diplomatic tussle that had tested US-China relations.
The departure of Mr Chen, his wife and two children seemed hastily arranged
Chen Guangcheng, his wife and their two children were on United Airlines Flight 88, which took off in the late afternoon local time from Beijing airport. The flight was scheduled to arrive in Newark, New Jersey, later yesterday.
Earlier yesterday, Chen said he had left the hospital where he had been staying and that he expected to leave late afternoon for Newark, outside New York City.
“Thousands of thoughts are surging to my mind,” Mr Chen said, sounding hurried but calm. To his supporters and others in the activist community, Mr Chen expressed gratitude and indicated that he hoped to return.
“I am requesting a leave of absence, and I hope that they will understand,” he said.
Mr Chen and his family were driven up to the plane in a vehicle resembling a minibus, and Mr Chen could be seen being pushed in a wheelchair on the tarmac and then onto an elevator that took them up to a sky bridge that was connected to the plane.
Mr Chen and his family’s departure to the US marks the conclusion of nearly a month of uncertainty and years of mistreatment by local authorities for the self-taught legal activist who made a daring escape from abusive house arrest in his village last month.
His supporters welcomed his departure. “I think this is great progress. We are happy about it,” said US-based rights activist Bob Fu. “It’s a victory for freedom fighters.”
Mr Chen sought the protection of US diplomats at the American Embassy in Beijing, triggering a diplomatic stand-off days ahead of unrelated high-level talks on global hotspots and economic imbalances led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
After days of negotiations, the sides announced an agreement in which he and his family would be allowed to travel to the US for him to study.
The departure of Mr Chen, his wife and two children seemed hastily arranged and entirely orchestrated by Chinese and American officials with no apparent input from the activist.
Mr Chen said he was informed at the hospital just before noon to pack his bags and get ready to leave. Officials did not give him and his family passports or inform them of their flight details until after they got to the airport.
Seeming ambivalent, Mr Chen said that he was “not happy” about leaving and that he had a lot on his mind, including worries about retaliation against his extended family back home.
“I hope that the government will fulfil the promises it made to me, all of its promises,” Mr Chen said. Such promises included launching an investigation into abuses against him and his family in Shandong province, he said before the phone call was cut off.
Mr Chen and other activists fear authorities in Shandong province will punish his extended family for his audacious escape. Mr Chen’s nephew, Chen Keg, is accused of attempted murder after he allegedly used a kitchen knife to attack officials who stormed his house after discovering Chen Guangcheng was missing.
Mr Chen was awaiting permission to travel to the US to take up an invitation to study law at New York University after he left the embassy on May 2 and was treated in hospital for injuries sustained during his escape.
The State Department has said that US visas for Mr Chen, his wife and children are ready for them to travel to America. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that it had no comment on Mr Chen’s departure.