BEIJING — American diplomats were not allowed to meet with blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng over the weekend, but Chinese authorities on Monday told him they will issue the documents he needs to leave the country so that he can study in the United States, Chen said.
“Today they (Chinese officials) came over and indicated that they would do these things,” Chen said by telephone from his hospital room. “But they didn’t say when.”
The willingness of Beijing to do so will make or break a tentative agreement that the U.S. State Department announced Friday following several days of criticism that American diplomats erred grievously when they brokered a deal for Chen to leave their embassy with no way of guaranteeing his safety.
Chen has been offered a fellowship at New York University. He has repeatedly asserted that he would not seek asylum after entering the United States and plans to return to China at some point.
On Monday, Chen said that he, his wife and their two children do not have valid passports but that he had been told by Chinese officials that they would be issued.
“Since they have promised they would process them, I’ll just wait. … I’ll believe it first, and then see if they will do it or not,” said Chen, 40. McClatchy Newspapers
