The Dalai Lama meets with British Prime Minister David Cameron (C) and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (R) at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, May 14, 2012. China summoned Britain’s ambassador in Beijing on Tuesday to protest British Prime Minister David Cameron’s meeting with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. But London stood its ground, saying Cameron is free to meet with anyone he chooses.
WASHINGTON - Former President George W. Bush broke his silence on the 2012 presidential race and informally endorsed Mitt Romney on Tuesday, ABC News reports. "I'm for Mitt Romney," Bush said when asked by a reporter after an event promoting a project of the George W. Bush Presidential Center , which will be built at Southern Methodist University. When the GOP primary was still competitive, Bush had declined to pick a favorite, despite a highly public endorsement by his father, President George H.W. Bush, for the former Massachusetts governor.
Rebiya Kadeer at the opening session of the World Uyghur Congress's biennial meeting in Tokyo, May 14, 2012. Ethnic Uyghurs are facing a struggle for survival in the face of growing repression, exiled Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer said Monday as she launched a biennial meeting of the World Uyghur Congress hosted by Japan against China’s objections. "Before, we were fighting for our rights, we were protesting against China's oppression," Kadeer told reporters after the opening of the four-day WUC talks in Tokyo. "But now we face a fight for our existence,” said Kadeer, the president of the WUC, a Germany-based group representing Uyghurs worldwide and holding its biennial meeting in Asia for the first time, after previous congresses in Munich and Washington.
MIDLAND, Tex. — When the Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng stole the show at an emergency Congressional hearing this month by calling into the chamber during a live television broadcast, few people noticed who was holding the cellphone. But those within the tightknit community of Chinese dissidents in the United States, and their supporters, immediately recognized the man, who had arranged for Mr. Chen’s voice to be carried to Washington directly from his Beijing hospital bed: Bob Fu, a Chinese-born pastor who operates out of a squat, whitewashed house opposite a Family Dollar store here in Midland. “When it comes to contacts in China, Bob’s network can’t be beat,” said Representative Christopher H. Smith, Republican of New Jersey, who convened the hearing to put pressure on the Obama administration and help ensure that Mr. Chen, a self-taught lawyer, would be allowed to leave China with his family to study law in the United States.
(Yinan, Shandong—May 11, 2012) ChinaAid has just learned that the nephew of blind, self-taught lawyer Chen Guangcheng has been formally arrested and charged with "intentional homicide," a crime that carries the death sentence. The formal arrest of Chen’s nephew Chen Kegui took place on Wednesday May 9, and the formal arrest notification with the charge of “intentional homicide” was delivered to Chen Kegui’s mother, Ren Zongju on Thursday May 10. They were executed by the Yinan County People’s Procuratorate and the Yinan Public Security Bureau.
Authorities in the northern Chinese region of Inner Mongolia have handed a three-year suspended jail term to the wife of a prominent ethnic Mongolian dissident and sent her to live with the couple's son, who is being held under house arrest, relatives and a U.S.-based rights group said. Xinna, wife of dissident Hada, was handed the sentence during a secret trial in mid-to-early April, according to a friend of the family, surnamed Zhang. "She got three years with a five-year reprieve," Zhang said. "The trial was held in the middle of last month and she was found guilty."
Reports that China may postpone a crucial congress of its ruling Communist Party are indicative of factional power struggles behind the scenes ahead of a key leadership transition, political sources said on Wednesday. Party leaders are "seriously considering" a delay in the forthcoming 18th Party Congress by a few months as internal debate rages over who will form China's next generation of leaders, Reuters news agency quoted political sources as saying. But sources in Beijing told RFA that such a move is unlikely, as it is highly unpopular with former president Jiang Zemin, whose "Shanghai clique" still wields huge power and influence in Chinese politics.
Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, currently awaiting permission to travel to the U.S. after seeking sanctuary at the American embassy in Beijing, said on Tuesday he is "very concerned" for his extended family, especially his nephew who is being detained in eastern Shandong province.
MIDLAND, Tex. — One week ago, Bob Fu was an obscure crusader for religious rights in China. His nonprofit group, China Aid, improbably based in this dusty West Texas oil town, followed the plight of persecuted “house churches,” opposed forced sterilizations and abortions, and promoted pen-pal campaigns for pastors in prison. In the past 72 hours, Fu has become an international media figure at the center of the most sensational human rights crisis in China in a decade. It erupted when blind lawyer and dissident Chen Guangcheng fled house arrest and took refuge in the U.S.
Activist Chen Guangcheng says he does not know when he will be allowed to leave China despite an offer from a US university. Mr Chen, who spent six days at the US embassy, said US officials were still being barred from his hospital. He told the BBC he had asked Chinese officials for help but had not started doing the paperwork for a passport. On Sunday US Vice-President Joe Biden said a visa was waiting for Mr Chen as soon as he applied. "[Chinese officials] promised that they would help me process the passports, but I haven't been given an exact time. I haven't started filling in the forms," Mr Chen said. "I hope they can help me process this because I'm lying in bed and can't do it myself." Mr Chen said he had been able to talk to US officials. "I've been speaking to the American embassy people for the last couple of days. Yesterday [Sunday], the ambassador came to visit me again, but the Chinese foreign ministry didn't allow him in." On Sunday Joe Biden said Washington expected China to "stick to that commitment" for him to study in the US, where he has been offered a fellowship by New York University (NYU). 'No way' Mr Chen fled house arrest last month and spent six days in the US embassy. The 40-year-old campaigned against forced abortions and sterilisations of women under China's one-child policy. Continue reading the main story Chen Guangcheng Chen Guangcheng (file photo 2006) Born 12 Nov 1971 Nicknamed the "Barefoot Lawyer" Went blind as a child Campaigned for women forced to have abortions or sterilisation under China's one-child-per-family policy Jailed for four years in 2006 for disrupting traffic and damaging property Released from jail in 2010 and placed under house arrest Daughter barred from school during much of 2011, reports say Escapes house arrest, April 2012 Extracts from BBC interview Profile: Chen Guangcheng He left the embassy on Wednesday after accepting China's assurances of his safety. He later said that in view of the threats against his family, he had decided to leave the country. Mr Chen's case dramatically overshadowed high-level US-China trade and strategy talks that took place in Beijing last week. After several days of tension, China said on Friday that if the activist wanted to study overseas, he could "process relevant procedures with relevant departments through normal channels in accordance with the law". The move was seen as paving the way for a resolution to a diplomatic crisis which both Beijing and Washington had sought to downplay. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - in Beijing for the annual talks - said she was "encouraged" by the Chinese statement. "Progress has been made to help him have the future he wants," she told a news conference in Beijing. China had earlier demanded an apology from the US for sheltering Mr Chen in its embassy. This was reiterated in a commentary published in China Daily on Monday, accusing the US of violating international and Chinese laws and interfering in ''China's internal affairs''. However, the writer also stressed that ''healthy ties'' between the two countries ''will not be held hostage by a single incident''.