Chen Guangcheng is in the US embassy in Beijing!!

The contradiction I see are the conflicting reports about whatever official said what and when, in relation to whatever Chen did or didn't say or do. It's such a mess at the moment. Lots of reports I'm reading flat out say that the info they're getting is contradictory and confused.

But from your post, CNN didn't contradict themselves. They said US gov officials are restricted, but didn't mention reporters, so of course they got an interview.

I would agree that they contradicted themselves if they claimed that after Chen left the embassy, no one was allowed to see Chen period, then waltzed in for a chat, but that doesn't seem to be what happened. I'm withholding accusations of contradiction until a clearer timeline appears. Lots of things can seem contradictory if they're just reported in a very general report, loose on specifics, as CNN often does. Placed out of that all important context, everything seems confused.

They are contradicting themselves because he's able to get his message out. If what the media says is true that Chen says he and his family are being threatened with death, why would the government allow him to even speak with reporters let alone US officials? What I'm getting at is the media is lying. If you see what they're reporting what Chen has been supposedly saying after leaving the embassy, it's the same things. Today at a US congressional hearing he supposedly sent a message to them specifically. He talked about the same things as mentioned the day before. Some of these reporters are showing their smartphones playing the audio interview. They didn't use the camera to takes picture and video record the interview? All these reporters are interviewing him and it's all the same things about threats to his family. He wants to go to the US, and electric fences. They're lying and the contradictions say they're lying. They're saying armed people are guarding him now. While they were interviwing him? And the guards did nothing while he was saying they're making threats to his and his family's lives? Sounds like he's not being silenced to me.

SampanViking said:

Not true as he has given interviews with at least UK Channel 4 News and CNN since moving to the hospital.

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I said that the police seem to be blocking visitors from seeing him. Speaking to someone on a telephone isn't the same as seeing them in person, especially if you've been pretty much trapped in your own home for the last two years.

Hardly a surprise though if access is being controlled. It is after all a hospital

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As I said, patients can have visitors. Is there a law in China that bans all members of the press from hospitals?

I think the fact that he was able to call a US Congressional Committee Chairman (In the middle of a sitting) from his bed is not bad going for a detained political prisoner in a Authoritarian Police State. I would be interested if any US citizens on this forum would be able to speak to their congressman with such ease?

AS for the media coverage, well...... I dare say they would describe having his leg injury cleaned and stitched as having strong caustic chemicals and needles put into his open wound.

Finally of course and as no great surprise, the Chinese authorities are now saying that he is free to travel and study abroad if he wants to.

I also note that during this episode, that not one mention of items discussed has been broadcast about the substance of the Strategic Dialogue talks that Hillary flew in for.

Mr T said:

I think the "lol" is on you. If you knew about this case, you would know that there's been far more than "a few" guards patrolling the house and the approaches to the village. It took several just to deal with Christian Bale when he wanted to visit - and he didn't get anywhere near the house.

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Hey, you're making the claim for "millions of dollars". The onus is on you to provide some kind of evidence.

Even if we allow that you really meant "yuan" instead of "dollars", there is still nothing near millions. How much do you think an average security guard in a small town makes every month? Even at a generous 2000 yuan a month, you'd still need to hire 50 guards to spend 1 million yuan a year.

If there were 50 guards around this guy, he wouldn't have escaped.

SampanViking said:

I would be interested if any US citizens on this forum would be able to speak to their congressman with such ease?

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If any US citizens had gone through what Chen Guangcheng has, I think they'd get put through to someone even more important than a congressman.

The ease of how Chen is now getting to leave shows all the crap from the media is what it is. Everyone who claimed they interviewed him had an audio only and he said the same things. If it was him on the audio he must've recorded it before all this happened. Notice he's the only one speaking? It's just a statement. I haven't hear any the supposed interviewers asking questions. Again in this age of smartphones none of these journalists bothered to use the video camera. Audio only would cover-up the obvious.

Mr T said:

If any US citizens had gone through what Chen Guangcheng has, I think they'd get put through to someone even more important than a congressman.

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I am sure that Mr Bradley Manning will draw great strength and comfort from your assertion.

Personally though I think Beijing have played a blinder on this one. Can it really be coincidence that this guy was sprung just before the Strategic Dialogue? It would be incredible if it was not.

My reading of events is this:

Hillary has been on the back foot from the moment she walked down the ladder ramp. First she had to give Chen back before the Chinese would even agree to continue with the meetings and this told them that she was desperate to get a deal on something or other. Worse than that, the moment she sits down to talk, Chen starts screaming the roof down about being thrown to the Wolves, which meant that Hillary had to start negotiation and conceding like mad to get him back and do so quickly as the accusations and arguments/contradictions were getting worse by the hour.

I am still waiting to learn the substance of issues discussed in the Dialogue, but President Hu's reported, clearly happy and positive demeanour indicated that he is pleased with the outcome.
As for Hillary, well I think a T shirt saying "I went to Beijing but all I got was this lousy dissident!" would pretty much sum it up.

Mr T said:

If any US citizens had gone through what Chen Guangcheng has, I think they'd get put through to someone even more important than a congressman.

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Are you aware Obama has prosecuted more whistle-blowers than all the presidents combine? The only difference is they aren't called dissidents but enemy of the state, where are their human rights stewards?

Political persecution is relative. There are plenty of people in the US called political prisoners by some but not by the mainstream. The same can be said of China. I laughed when CNN put out a poll if Chen should be considered a hero. I bet 99% of Americans never even heard of him and still don't know because most news media on TV haven't even mentioned what his history is. They just call him a Chinese dissident and that's it. I'm trying to look for articles on a Democrat in the South who was jailed for a long time without due process back during the last Presidential election. He was never charged with anything and he was imprisoned for at least a year. It was all a political maneuver by the GOP to get him out of the picture because was some mover and shaker in the South. This was all over on MSNBC back then. My search parameters are too general.

Back in the 1970s, there was a lot of politcal persecution in San Francisco Chinatown when the pro-Taiwan faction was dominant. They would use threats and intimidation tactics to make sure the Chinese community was in-line with their political beliefs.