https://www.scmp.com/rss/38421/feed Chen Guangcheng is a blind self-taught lawyer and famous human rights activist in China. He became internationally known for filing a law suit against a local government for its excessive enforcement of China’s one-child policy. Chen was placed under house-arrest in 2010 and was isolated from outside contact. In April 2012, he successfully escaped and entered the US embassy in Beijing. The following month he was exiled to United States following an agreement between Beijing and Washington and... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com New York University has withdrawn its claim that a close supporter of Chen Guangcheng, a dissident affiliated with the university until this summer, had tried to spy on Chen by giving him an iPad and iPhone loaded with hidden spyware, saying it was a "misunderstanding". The spyware claims followed Chen's accusation in June that NYU was making him leave as a result of pressure from China's government. NYU said Chen, who arrived at the university in May last year after escaping house arrest in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1377580/nyu-drops-claim-friend-chen-guangcheng-tried-spy-dissident?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1377580/nyu-drops-claim-friend-chen-guangcheng-tried-spy-dissident?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Dec 2013 13:27:32 +0000 Former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton has revealed how two diplomatic crises that threatened the stability of ties with China were defused last year. At the Chatham House think tank in London last week, Clinton spoke about the events surrounding the flight of former Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun to the US consulate in Chengdu in February last year. She also discussed the tense stand-off with Beijing after blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng took refuge in the American embassy... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1333765/hillary-clinton-sheds-light-wang-lijun-and-chen-guangcheng-asylum?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1333765/hillary-clinton-sheds-light-wang-lijun-and-chen-guangcheng-asylum?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Oct 2013 10:21:50 +0000 Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese dissident and legal rights activist who accused New York University of forcing him to leave this summer because of alleged pressure from the Chinese government, will be joining The Witherspoon Institute, a conservative think tank. Chen will become a distinguished fellow in human rights at Witherspoon, which is based in Princeton, New Jersey, for the next three years. He will also be affiliated with The Catholic University of America and the more liberal-leaning... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1322677/chinese-dissident-chen-guangcheng-join-conservative-us-think-tank?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1322677/chinese-dissident-chen-guangcheng-join-conservative-us-think-tank?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Oct 2013 01:28:42 +0000 Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng on Tuesday accused Beijing authorities of cracking down on members of his family, calling on President Barack Obama to intervene. Chen, who emigrated to the United States last year following his dramatic escape from house arrest, told reporters at the National Press Club in Washington that several members of his family had been harassed since he left his homeland. The 41-year-old rights activist cited the prominent case of his nephew Chen Kegui, 33, who had been... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1317365/blind-activist-chen-guangcheng-accuses-beijing-targeting-his-family?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1317365/blind-activist-chen-guangcheng-accuses-beijing-targeting-his-family?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Sep 2013 02:13:47 +0000 A year after stunning the world by escaping house arrest and securing refuge in the American embassy in Beijing, Chen Guangcheng is confronted with a difficult future. During the past year, the blind legal activist has given speeches and collected human rights awards in Europe and the US, where he eventually ended up after his harrowing flight from his home in rural Shandong . He still fascinates audiences with his story of exposing forced abortions, and the years of detention and harassment... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1272054/blind-activist-chen-guangcheng-faces-tough-road-redefining-himself-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1272054/blind-activist-chen-guangcheng-faces-tough-road-redefining-himself-us?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng, who fled house arrest in China and sought refuge in the US embassy in Beijing last year, was yesterday received by the head of Taiwan's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, while officials from the ruling Kuomintang kept their distance. DPP chairman Su Tseng-chang told Chen that many leading DPP politicians had been political dissidents imprisoned under one-party KMT rule in Taiwan in the 1970s and '80s and urged mainland activists not to give up... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1269767/taiwans-dpp-courts-blind-activist-chen-guangcheng?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1269767/taiwans-dpp-courts-blind-activist-chen-guangcheng?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng, who sparked a diplomatic crisis between China and the United States when he fled house arrest and sought refuge at the US embassy in Beijing, said yesterday that Taiwan's democratisation was a "precious experience" for mainland China. "Taiwan's success is a light that points the path for Chinese society," he said in a speech to hundreds of people at a public talk at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. Chen said Taiwan's past repression of government critics... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1268883/chen-highlights-taiwan-experience-mainland-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1268883/chen-highlights-taiwan-experience-mainland-china?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Democratisation of the mainland was "inevitable" as the growing demands of ordinary people for rights put immense pressure on the government, blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng said yesterday. "The sense of crisis is felt deeply by the authorities and is making them very uncomfortable," said Chen, who sparked a diplomatic crisis last year when he escaped house arrest and took refuge in the US embassy. "The democratisation of the mainland is inevitable," he told a press conference in Taipei.... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1268249/democratisation-china-inevitable-blind-activist-chen-guangcheng-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1268249/democratisation-china-inevitable-blind-activist-chen-guangcheng-says?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng arrived in Taipei on Monday on what organisers called a “trip for freedom and human rights”, likely to spark Chinese anger. Chen flew to the northern Taoyuan airport late on Sunday night from the United States, after New York University announced earlier this month that it would be parting ways with the dissident. “I’m glad to visit Taiwan,” Chen told reporters before being whisked away. The activist, a self-taught lawyer, claimed that Beijing had applied... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1267762/blind-activist-chen-guangcheng-arrives-taiwan-human-rights-trip?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1267762/blind-activist-chen-guangcheng-arrives-taiwan-human-rights-trip?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Jun 2013 02:26:05 +0000 A Shanghai-based New York University official yesterday denied any knowledge of political pressure by Beijing that led the US institution to end dissident Chen Guangcheng's studies. "No one here from the government or the [Communist Party] has ever spoken to me about him and his tenure at New York University in New York," NYU Shanghai vice-chancellor Jeffrey Lehman said at a conference in Shanghai. "The communications were always between him and NYU in New York," he said. "NYU Shanghai was never... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1266814/nyu-official-denies-role-ending-chen-guangchengs-studies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1266814/nyu-official-denies-role-ending-chen-guangchengs-studies?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 When Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States in May last year he was given a fellowship at New York University, use of a Greenwich Village apartment, and a pile of gifts from supporters, including smartphones and an iPad. But at least two of the gadgets presented to Chen as gifts may not have been quite what they seemed: They included software intended to spy on the blind dissident, according to Jerome Cohen, an NYU professor who has been Chen’s mentor, and another source... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1266280/us-gifts-chen-guangcheng-bugged-tracking-devices?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1266280/us-gifts-chen-guangcheng-bugged-tracking-devices?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 American politics seems to have taken advantage of blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng and he doesn’t even realise it, a top Chinese nationalist newspaper said on Thursday, calling him a mere “chess piece” in the great game of Sino-American diplomacy. “[Chen’s] shallow understanding of the rules of Western politics and overestimation of his own value to the West are making his requirements more embarrassing to the US,” the Global Times editorial read. The piece said Chen’s blindness was no more... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1264880/chen-guangcheng-called-oblivious-chess-piece-us-china-relations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1264880/chen-guangcheng-called-oblivious-chess-piece-us-china-relations?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Jun 2013 03:33:58 +0000 Blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng's association with those in right-wing politics in the US is likely to hurt his reputation and credibility as a human rights advocate, according to scholars and people familiar with him. Chen released a statement this week accusing New York University, which hosted him for the past year, of ending his fellowship under pressure from the Chinese government. NYU said the fellowship had always been meant to last a year and the allegations were false. Chen, a... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1263925/friends-fear-right-wing-connections-will-hit-chen-guangchengs-credibility?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1263925/friends-fear-right-wing-connections-will-hit-chen-guangchengs-credibility?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 There is abortion that has to do with a woman's right to choose. Then there is abortion that has to do with violent state-sanctioned late-term terminations and sterilisations. Blind dissident Chen Guangcheng did a great service in exposing such cruel practices by officials in Shandong as one of the worst excesses of China's one-child policy. But he and his cause are in danger of being hijacked by the right-wing evangelical Republican movement in the US. This hard-right movement's "pro-life"... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1263909/chen-guangcheng-misled-his-new-right-wing-friends?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1263909/chen-guangcheng-misled-his-new-right-wing-friends?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Charges by a top activist that New York University dismissed him due to Chinese influence have added fuel to concerns over Beijing’s educational clout which critics say hurts US academic freedom. Chen Guangcheng, one of China’s most prominent human rights campaigners who dramatically escaped house arrest last year, has accused the private university of surrendering to “unrelenting pressure” from Beijing. New York University has adamantly denied the charges and said that it has been generous to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1263595/china-activist-chen-guangcheng-revives-concern-us-academic-freedom?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1263595/china-activist-chen-guangcheng-revives-concern-us-academic-freedom?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:28:05 +0000 Blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng , whose dramatic escape from house arrest to the US embassy in Beijing last year sparked a diplomatic crisis, has accused New York University of ending his fellowship there after coming under "unrelenting pressure" from China. The pressure from the Communist Party was so great that "after we had been in the US just three to four months, NYU was already starting to discuss our departure with us", he said in a statement yesterday. He said that "academic... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1262675/dissident-chen-guangcheng-accuses-nyu-giving-chinas-communist-party?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1262675/dissident-chen-guangcheng-accuses-nyu-giving-chinas-communist-party?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Jun 2013 01:52:11 +0000 Blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng, whose dramatic escape from house arrest to the US embassy in Beijing put Sino-US relations to the test last year, will leave New York University this summer after having spent a year there, the university said. Professor Jerome Cohen, a China law expert at the university and a family friend of Chen's who arranged his fellowship there, said it had long been agreed that the university would host him for a year "in order to get their feet on the ground and... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1260551/chinese-dissident-leave-new-york-university-soon?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1260551/chinese-dissident-leave-new-york-university-soon?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:55:00 +0000 Relatives of prisoners in China have asked US President Barack Obama to urge Xi Jinping to free 16 inmates, saying human rights should be a priority at their tone-setting summit. Xi was holding his first talks with Obama yesterday since taking office. Both sides say that the meeting at a secluded resort in the California desert is aimed at building chemistry between the two leaders. "This summit is not only about personal friendship building. It's a summit between the presidents of two countries... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1256029/relatives-16-prisoners-urge-obama-seek-their-release?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1256029/relatives-16-prisoners-urge-obama-seek-their-release?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The brother of blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, whose flight to the US embassy last year provoked a diplomatic crisis, has been given his first ever passport by authorities in Beijing, he said on Friday. The development comes on the day that Chinese President Xi Jinping is to start his first summit with President Barack Obama in California. Chen Guangfu now plans to travel to Taiwan to meet his brother, who now lives in the US after his dramatic escape from house arrest last year, which... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1255557/beijing-gives-passport-brother-dissident-who-escaped-house-arrest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1255557/beijing-gives-passport-brother-dissident-who-escaped-house-arrest?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Jun 2013 06:59:17 +0000 China warned blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng on Thursday to mind his language ahead of his trip next month to political rival Taiwan, on a visit which could infuriate Beijing if, as expected, Chen uses it to criticise Chinese rights abuses. China has been largely silent on the issue of Chen since he fled from house arrest and took refuge in the US embassy in Beijing last year, straining Sino-US relations, before he was allowed to leave for New York for study. Since then, Chen has taken his... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1244215/china-warns-blind-dissident-chen-guangcheng-ahead-taiwan-trip?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1244215/china-warns-blind-dissident-chen-guangcheng-ahead-taiwan-trip?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 May 2013 09:27:19 +0000 Blind activist Chen Guangcheng has accused the British government of running scared from Beijing. Chen is in the UK to receive an award for exposing the plight of hundreds of thousands of Chinese women forced to undergo abortions and sterilisations as part of China’s strict one-child policy. But his request to meet with the Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague during his five-day visit has been snubbed because Downing Street fears “further punishment” from Beijing and... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1242908/chen-guangcheng-says-british-government-scared-offending-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1242908/chen-guangcheng-says-british-government-scared-offending-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 May 2013 12:14:31 +0000 Britain's relationship with Beijing was set to chill further last night when the British Parliament gave a human rights award to blind activist Chen Guangcheng. Chen - who escaped extra-legal house arrest in Shandong last year before seeking refuge at the US embassy in Beijing and finally making it to New York - was handed the Westminster Award for his contribution to "human rights, human life and human dignity". Today, Chen plans to deliver to Downing Street a list of 44 senior Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1242309/british-award-chen-guangcheng-set-worsen-uk-china-relations?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1242309/british-award-chen-guangcheng-set-worsen-uk-china-relations?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Chen to address British MPS Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese civil rights activist who evaded house arrest to escape to the United States last year, is scheduled gives a speech in the British Parliament and address the Oxford Union tomorrow. A parliamentary organisation - the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-life Group - will today present Chen the "Westminster Award" for his contribution to human rights.   Suspect tried for stealing artworks A court in Cambridge will hear the case of a man accused... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1241421/talking-points?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1241421/talking-points?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Chen Guangfu has not had a good night's sleep since the early hours of April 19. The elder brother of blind activist Chen Guangcheng was woken when a torrent of rocks, bricks and beer bottles flew into his family's courtyard, smashing roof tiles and windows. At dawn, he found dead chickens and ducks in his courtyard and funeral paper offerings scattered outside his front door. Similar night-time attacks persisted over the next three weeks. Trees and vegetables the family had planted were... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1240897/activists-families-targeted-harassment-campaign?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1240897/activists-families-targeted-harassment-campaign?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng said on Tuesday that change in his country was “inevitable” but should be the work of the Chinese themselves rather than be imposed from the outside. “China will undergo a transformation, this is inevitable and in fact this has already begun,” said Chen, a blind self-taught lawyer who dramatically escaped house arrest last year. We cannot wait for democracy, freedom and equality to come from the outside Chen Guangcheng “We cannot wait for... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1237761/change-china-inevitable-says-blind-activist-chen-guangcheng?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1237761/change-china-inevitable-says-blind-activist-chen-guangcheng?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 May 2013 12:57:50 +0000 The elder brother of exiled blind activist Chen Guangcheng was beaten by two unidentified men yesterday morning, the latest in a string of mysterious attacks on the family in the past few weeks. Chen Guangfu , 56, said he was riding an electric bicycle towards his home village of Dongshigu in Shandong province at around 10am when a black car overtook him and stopped him. Two young men jumped out and beat him on his head and chest and kicked him, also badly damaging his bicycle. He said the men... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1233721/exiled-activist-chen-guangchengs-brother-beaten-latest-attack-against?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1233721/exiled-activist-chen-guangchengs-brother-beaten-latest-attack-against?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 May 2013 08:38:40 +0000 U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry tried calling Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to discuss the imprisoned nephew of blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng but Wang was not available, the State Department said on Friday. Wang was said to be in Singapore on Friday for meetings with senior officials there. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters Kerry had tried to call Wang Thursday and would follow up. Asked if he thought it odd that Wang was not available to speak to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1229855/kerry-phones-china-over-dissidents-nephew-cant-reach-minister?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1229855/kerry-phones-china-over-dissidents-nephew-cant-reach-minister?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 May 2013 01:52:06 +0000 The imprisoned nephew of exiled human rights activist Chen Guangcheng is suffering from appendicitis but being denied medical parole, his father said, in seemingly the latest punishment by authorities against the family. The nephew, Chen Kegui, has been subjected to beatings and mistreatment since he fought with officials who stormed his house a year ago to look for Chen Guangcheng, who had escaped house arrest. Kegui was sentenced to three years in prison, and on the one monthly visit he's... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1226495/chen-guangchengs-family-harassed-nephew-denied-medical-treatment-jail?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1226495/chen-guangchengs-family-harassed-nephew-denied-medical-treatment-jail?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:05:56 +0000 The Chinese human rights activist at the centre of a diplomatic crisis a year ago on Tuesday accused Beijing of reneging on the agreement that freed him and urged the United States to intervene. Chen Guangcheng, a blind self-taught lawyer who infuriated authorities by exposing forced abortions, dramatically escaped house arrest in April last year by scaling the walls of his home and taking a getaway car to the US embassy. Not only has the Chinese government not fulfilled its own promises to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1211309/blind-activist-chen-guangcheng-says-china-violated-his-us-freedom-deal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1211309/blind-activist-chen-guangcheng-says-china-violated-his-us-freedom-deal?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Apr 2013 01:52:57 +0000 Chen Guangcheng is the blind civil rights advocate from rural China who escaped house arrest in April last year and fled to the US embassy in Beijing. Then-secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton negotiated his temporary stay in the US to study law at New York University. He was interviewed by Global Viewpoint Network editor Nathan Gardels. On the 30th anniversary of the Chinese constitution on December 7 last year, China’s new leader Xi Jinping said, “We must firmly establish, throughout... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1175759/chen-guangcheng-qa-china-has-good-laws-they-should-apply-party?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1175759/chen-guangcheng-qa-china-has-good-laws-they-should-apply-party?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Mar 2013 03:27:43 +0000 Chen Guangcheng, the activist who dramatically escaped house arrest last year, said on Wednesday that foreign media had a crucial impact in China and urged them to keep up their coverage. In an address inside the Washington National Cathedral, the blind self-taught lawyer reiterated his conviction that China will eventually reform due to the pressure from citizens who challenge one-party rule. “Foreign journalists can also do their part. They may not know it, but their reporting puts a great... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1140100/activist-chen-guangcheng-calls-foreign-media-keep-pressure-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1140100/activist-chen-guangcheng-calls-foreign-media-keep-pressure-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 31 Jan 2013 03:49:58 +0000 The past year should have been a wake-up call for the authorities: either deepen reform to strengthen the rule of law, or risk more international scandals like those involving Wang Lijun and Chen Guangcheng. The two men, one a powerful police chief fearing revenge from his boss and the other a rights activist under house arrest, could not have been more different in terms of their status and situation. But despite the very different causes of their flights to seek foreign sanctuary, at the root... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1118564/mainland-leadership-needs-deepen-legal-reform?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1118564/mainland-leadership-needs-deepen-legal-reform?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A lawyer for the imprisoned nephew of Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng says his legal team will likely miss Thursday’s deadline to file an appeal because authorities have denied their requests to meet with him. Blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng made a daring escape from house arrest and fled to the US Embassy in Beijing in April. He’s now living in New York. His nephew, Chen Kegui, was convicted two weeks ago of attacking officials who stormed his house looking for his uncle and was sentenced... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1103737/lawyer-chinese-activist-nephew-cant-visit-him?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1103737/lawyer-chinese-activist-nephew-cant-visit-him?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Dec 2012 09:00:18 +0000 Resisting police usually leads to charges that are local news at best. What sets the case of 32-year-old Chen Kegui apart is that he is the nephew of blind activist Chen Guangcheng, who caused a diplomatic tussle when he escaped from his guarded village home in Shandong to the American embassy in Beijing, before leaving for the US. Speaking from his new home in New York, Chen Guangcheng has condemned as revenge for his escape the jail sentence of three years and three months imposed on Chen... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1102516/chen-kegui-case-shows-rule-law-still-weak-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1102516/chen-kegui-case-shows-rule-law-still-weak-china?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000 One key question after the Communist Party's national congress last month is whether the authorities will continue to use the courts as merely a tool for greater control, or allow them to play the role they should as guardians of the rule of law. A flurry of developments in three high-profile cases in the past week is sending worrying mixed signals. The one that attracted the most international attention was the sentencing of Chen Kegui, a nephew of blind activist Chen Guangcheng, to 39 months... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1098422/chinas-courts-need-show-way-forward?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1098422/chinas-courts-need-show-way-forward?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Their style is definitely different, but we still have to see if the substance has changed Analyst Professor Ma Guoxian on Beijing's new leaders, led by Xi Jinping   The president is not going to negotiate with himself Dan Pfeiffer, communications chief to U.S. President Barack Obama, on budget negotiations - or lack of them   There is no word that Communist Party rulers are willing to change and do the right thing Exiled dissident Chen Guangcheng on a U.N. report condemning China's rights... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1096809/who-said-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1096809/who-said-it?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Chinese blind activist Chen Guangcheng said in a video released on Sunday that a three-year jail sentence handed to his nephew was “revenge” for his dramatic escape to the US embassy earlier this year. Chen, who was imprisoned after exposing abuses under China’s “one child” population control policy, caused a diplomatic row when he escaped house arrest in his village in Shandong province and reached the US mission in Beijing. As he was freed to leave for the United States, government officials... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1096293/china-dissident-brands-nephews-conviction-revenge?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1096293/china-dissident-brands-nephews-conviction-revenge?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Dec 2012 00:47:41 +0000 Court seeks apology over 'fake' jailing news A Beijing court has asked for an apology from a newspaper that said it jailed 10 "interceptors" who illegally held petitioners attempting to lodge complaints with the central government. The state-run Beijing Youth Daily reported that the 10 were imprisoned after detaining people from Henan complaining about local government abuses. A Chaoyang District Court spokeswoman branded the report "fake news", the China Daily reported. She said "a case... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1096001/briefs-december-3-2012?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1096001/briefs-december-3-2012?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000 People's Daily blasts shamed party boss A signed commentary on the website of the Communist Party's mouthpiece People's Daily has put disgraced Chongqing party boss Bo Xilai on par with Lei Zhengfu , a Chongqing official at the centre of a sex tape scandal. Bo and Lei served as two prominent examples of how "empty talk can endanger the country", a phrase coined by new party chief Xi Jinping in a speech delivered on Thursday pledging national renewal. "Corrupt officials like Bo Xilai and Lei... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1095248/briefs-december-2-2012?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1095248/briefs-december-2-2012?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The United States on Friday blasted Chinese authorities for the jailing of the nephew of blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng, saying he was the victim of a “deeply flawed legal process.” After Chen -- who was jailed for years after exposing abuses under China’s “one child” population control policy -- fled house arrest in Shandong province in April, government officials and police descended on his home village. The family says his nephew Chen Kegui used a kitchen knife to defend himself when... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1094822/us-slams-chinas-jailing-dissidents-nephew?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1094822/us-slams-chinas-jailing-dissidents-nephew?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Dec 2012 01:13:56 +0000 Blind activist Chen Guangcheng's nephew was jailed for three years and three months by a Shandong court yesterday, Chen said. He condemned the sentence as retaliation for his daring escape from house arrest earlier this year. Chen Kegui , 32, was convicted in Yinan County People's Court of "intentional injury" for assaulting officials who stormed into his house in April to look for his uncle who had escaped from his tightly guarded home in Dongshigu village, said Chen Guangcheng , who now lives... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1094813/chen-guangchengs-nephew-jailed-assault-after-uncles-escape?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1094813/chen-guangchengs-nephew-jailed-assault-after-uncles-escape?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The nephew of blind Chinese lawyer Chen Guangcheng was jailed for more than three years on Friday for attacking officials who descended on his village after the dissident fled to the US embassy, his father said. Chen Guangchen, who was imprisoned after exposing abuses under China’s “one child” population control policy, caused a diplomatic row when he escaped house arrest in his village in Shandong province and reached the US mission in Beijing. As he was freed to leave for the United States,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1094577/blind-lawyer-chen-guangchengs-nephew-jailed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1094577/blind-lawyer-chen-guangchengs-nephew-jailed?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Nov 2012 06:38:25 +0000 Six months after escaping house arrest in the Shandong village of Liyi, blind rights activist Chen Guangcheng has been named one of GQ magazine's "men of the year". Specifically, the American men's fashion magazine dubbed Chen as its "rebel of the year", placing him alongside Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt (athlete of the year), Ben Affleck (director of the year) and pop singer Rihanna (obsession of the year). Not to let the humble activist be upstaged, the magazine ran a photo of Chen looking... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1090217/chen-guangcheng-named-gqs-rebel-year?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1090217/chen-guangcheng-named-gqs-rebel-year?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 A woman who campaigned against the mainland’s strict one-child policy has been sent to a labour camp for one and a half years, the third time she has been detained for criticising the government, her husband said on Tuesday. Mao Hengfeng, who lives in Shanghai, was seized in Beijing by a team of security officials on September 20 when she was petitioning the authorities for the rights abuses she suffered during her previous labour camp sentences, her husband, Wu Xuewei said. Mao’s sentence comes... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1076366/womens-rights-activist-sent-labour-camp-again?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1076366/womens-rights-activist-sent-labour-camp-again?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Nov 2012 10:48:10 +0000 Police in east China blocked a group of women in Shandong province from congratulating the family of rights activist Chen Guangcheng after the blind lawyer was awarded a US human rights prize, an organiser said on Wednesday. Chen, who caused a diplomatic row in April after escaping house arrest in his village in Shandong province and fleeing to the US embassy in Beijing, was awarded the Human Rights First prize in New York on Thursday. On Saturday, in Shandong’s Linyi city, up to 40 special... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1073950/police-block-supporters-blind-chinese-activist-chen-guangcheng?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1073950/police-block-supporters-blind-chinese-activist-chen-guangcheng?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Oct 2012 06:55:33 +0000 Actor Christian Bale hailed Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng as a “giant among men” during an emotional meeting nearly a year after the Batman star was forcefully prevented from visiting the activist. Chen, who made a daring escape in April from house arrest and was eventually able to go to New York, hugged Bale and appeared to be in tears as the blind self-taught lawyer accepted an award from the group Human Rights First. “He represents the people of China, the people that I met. He represents... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1070157/actor-calls-chen-guangcheng-giant-among-men?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1070157/actor-calls-chen-guangcheng-giant-among-men?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Oct 2012 01:10:23 +0000 Blind mainland activist Chen Guangcheng has accepted an invitation to visit Taipei, Taiwanese lawmakers said on Saturday, in a move likely to anger Beijing. “Chen gladly accepts our invitation and plans to make the visit no later than the summer next year since he is currently working on several projects,” lawmaker Lin Shih-chia told reporters after meeting with Chen in New York. Chen is expected to address Taiwan’s parliament as well as meet with local human rights and legal groups in a visit... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1027629/chen-guangcheng-accepts-taiwan-visit-invitation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1027629/chen-guangcheng-accepts-taiwan-visit-invitation?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Sep 2012 07:10:16 +0000 Taiwan’s main opposition party plans to invite blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng to the island, hoping he will address parliament, lawmakers said on Wednesday, in a move likely to anger Beijing. Lin Chia-lung, a legislator of the China-sceptic Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said he will meet Chen on Friday in New York, his home since May after a dramatic escape from house arrest to the US embassy in Beijing. “I’ll deliver an invitation on behalf of the DPP caucus, inviting him to visit... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1025589/taiwan-invite-chen-guangcheng-visit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1025589/taiwan-invite-chen-guangcheng-visit?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Aug 2012 10:58:58 +0000 Please don't hang her. I just want her to be brought home alive An appeal to Malaysian authorities by the mother of Emma Louise L'Aiguille (above), who has been charged with drug trafficking It has been more than three months and I have not received any news on the progress of this investigation Exiled activist Chen Guangcheng, now in the U.S., on undertakings made to him by Beijing If someone was sleeping on the floor we would check to see if he needed help Catherine Wang Po-qi, a spokeswoman... https://www.scmp.com/article/1008426/who-said-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1008426/who-said-it?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Aug 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Hongkongers' mistrust of the central government is at its highest point since May 1997, a survey found. The poll, conducted this month by the University of Hong Kong's public opinion programme, showed 37 per cent - up 3 percentage points from March - of 1,003 respondents distrusted Beijing, compared with 44 per cent in May 1997. Dixon Sing Ming, a political scientist at the University of Science and Technology, said 'the rein on human rights has tightened since the ending of the Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/article/1004415/mistrust-beijing-post-97-high?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1004415/mistrust-beijing-post-97-high?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Jun 2012 16:00:00 +0000