WASHINGTON, May 3, 2012 (AFP) – Republican challenger Mitt Romney said Thursday it would be a ’day of shame’ for President Barack Obama’s administration if reports it failed to protect a Chinese dissident proved true.
Chen Guangcheng, an activist who gained worldwide fame for exposing abuses in China’s ’one-child’ policy, sought refuge at the US embassy in Beijing last week after escaping from house arrest.
After being admitted to a Chinese hospital on Wednesday, Chen said he feared for his safety and accused US embassy officials of pushing him to leave — a charge US diplomats strongly deny.
The case has sparked a sensitive diplomatic row between China and the United States, at a time when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are in Beijing for high-level talks with the Chinese.
Chen ’has sought freedom in a bastion of freedom — an embassy of the United States of America. Aren’t we proud of the fact that people seeking freedom come to our embassy to find it?’ Romney said at a campaign rally in Virginia.
’The reports are — if they are accurate — that our administration willingly or unwittingly communicated to Chen an implicit threat to his family, and also probably sped up, or may have sped up, the process of his decision to leave the embassy’ to clear the way for the annual Sino-US bilateral talks, he said.
’It’s also apparent, according to these reports, if they’re accurate, that our embassy failed to put in place the kind of verifiable measures that would ensure the safety of Mr Chen and his family,’ the presumptive Republican presidential nominee added.
’If these reports are true, this is a dark day for freedom, and it’s a day of shame for the Obama administration.
’We are a place of freedom here and around the world and we should stand up for freedom wherever it is under attack.’
The United States said it was in talks with Chen about his future.