Lawyer and Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng escaped from his home, which was surrounded by security forces, aided by an underground network of human rights activists, the New York Times reports. The United States may currently be sheltering him in the American Embassy in Beijing.

Guangcheng is known for his advocacy of the handicapped and families subjected to forced abortions and sterilizations as a result of China’s one-child policy.

Ai Weiwei, an artist and critic of the Chinese government also subjected to house arrest because of his politics, stated that he had spoken to a friend who met with Guangcheng in Beijing Wednesday. The friend, after recounting Guangcheng’s nighttime evasion of multiple lines of guards in his effort to reach the city, told Ai Weiwei, “You know he’s blind, so the night to him is nothing. I think that’s a perfect metaphor."

According to the New York Times, the activist’s escape “represents a significant public relations challenge for the Chinese government, which has sought to relegate him to obscurity, confining him to his home in the remote village of Dongshigu and surrounding him with plainclothes security guards, even though there are no outstanding legal charges against him.”

The Associated Press writes that although activists claim that Guangcheng sought protection at the U.S. Embassy, neither the U.S. nor the Chinese governments have confirmed such reports.

But the United States faces diplomatic challenges because of this new development. Beijing is about to enter into the annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue with American officials next week, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The United States has been “eager to improve relations with the Chinese on various economic and security issues,” as the New York Times explains, and the possibility of the dissident being sheltered by the United States may affect relations between the countries.

 

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