Obama, Silent on Dissident, Urges Freedom in China - New York Times

Jason Lee/Reuters

Paramilitary police officers patrolled near the United States Embassy, where it was thought that Chen Guangcheng was staying.

WASHINGTON â€" The Obama administration rushed to contain a growing diplomatic crisis between the United States and China, sending a senior diplomat to Beijing to discuss the fate of a blind dissident who fled house arrest last week.

Amid intense secrecy, including a nearly blanket refusal to comment, the administration sought to negotiate over the safety of the dissident, Chen Guangcheng, who is said to be in American hands in Beijing â€" though it remained unclear late Sunday whether he was in the embassy, in a diplomatic residence, or somewhere else.

The senior diplomat, Kurt M. Campbell, an assistant secretary of state, arrived Sunday to meet with Chinese officials concerning Mr. Chen’s case, and to try to keep the matter from undermining the administration’s longstanding effort to improve economic and security relations with China, senior officials and diplomats in Washington and Beijing said.

A senior American official said that China’s leadership met Sunday to work out their response to Mr. Chen’s escape before scheduled meetings this week with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner. Mrs. Clinton is due to leave Washington for China on Monday night.

“They’re trying to figure out what they’re going to tell Hillary Clinton,” the official said of the Chinese leaders, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic delicacy surrounding the case. “We’d like to know as much as we can before she leaves.”

The sensitivities of Mr. Chen’s case reverberated beyond Chinese-United States relations. In a move that risked offending the Chinese authorities, who have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep the news of his escape quiet, the European Union’s China delegation issued a statement Monday that it was closely following events surrounding Mr. Chen.

“Human rights defenders should be treated in full compliance with Chinese laws and constitution,” the statement said. “We call on the Chinese authorities to exercise utmost restraint in dealing with the matter, including avoiding harassment of his family members or any person associated with him.”

The Obama administration’s effort to contain the crisis â€" the State Department declined to confirm that Mr. Campbell was in China, even though he was photographed in a Marriott hotel in Beijing â€" underscored the political challenge facing President Obama, at home and abroad.

“This is the greatest test in bilateral relations in years, probably going back to ’89,” said Christopher K. Johnson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, who was until recently a senior China analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, referring to the year of the crackdown on student protests in Tiananmen Square. He noted that the relationship had weathered tense moments since then, like the forced landing of a Navy spy plane on Hainan Island in 2001 after a midair encounter with a Chinese fighter jet.

Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, called for the administration to “take every measure” to protect Mr. Chen and his family. While he did not address the handling of the case, he said the matter demonstrated the need for unflinching American support for human rights in China.

“Any serious U.S. policy toward China must confront the facts of the Chinese government’s denial of political liberties, its one-child policy and other violation of human rights,” Mr. Romney said in a statement on Sunday, his first remarks on the issue since Mr. Chen’s escape was reported Friday.

Mr. Chen, 40, became famous because of his strong opposition to forced abortions and sterilizations conducted as part of China’s policy of limiting families to one child per couple. “Our country must play a strong role in urging reform in China and supporting those fighting for the freedoms we enjoy,” Mr. Romney said.

Steven Lee Myers reported from Washington, and Jane Perlez from Beijing.