Activist Pleads for US Help to Leave China

Activist Chen Guangcheng told AFP on Thursday he did not feel safe in China despite assurances made under a deal to remove him from the US embassy, pleading for American help to take him abroad.

Published

about 1 year ago

Categories

US, World, Breaking International News, Asia/Pacific, East Asia

Topics

United States

People

Robert Saiget, Chen Guangcheng, Jordan Pouille

Places

China, United States of America, Beijing, Shandong

Tags

foreign aid, activist

Transcript

SHOTLIST: <br></br><br></br>++Transcript of the highlights of a phone interview done by AFP reporter Robert Saiget in Beijing with Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng inside Chaoyang hospital on Thursday morning. The full interview is 4min 55secs. This is an excerpt of the interview. The audio is overlaid with a AFP photo by Jordan Pouille, taken on May 2, 2012, showing Chen Guangcheng in a wheelchair pushed by a nurse at Chaoyang hospital in Beijing, and video as following: <br></br><br></br>BEIJING, CHINA. MAY 3, 2012 (SOURCE: AFPTV - ACCESS ALL) <br></br>- US Embassy car arriving and departing Chaoyang Hospital, Chaoyang, Beijing, where Chen Guangcheng is having medical treatment <br></br>- Various of media outside Chaoyang Hospital <br></br>- Various of public and police outside Chaoyang Hospital <br></br><br></br><br></br>The whole interview is carried out in Mandarin.++ <br></br><br></br>Note: Q: stands for Question and Chen: stands for Chen Guangcheng's answers <br></br><br></br>++Timecode is provided for all soundbites. The first timecode refers to the start/ finish of the whole soundbite, the second timecode provides a breakdown of separate questions and answers. This was done as a service to clients as some of the answers are very short++ <br></br><br></br>----------------------------------------------------- <br></br>BEIJING, CHINA. MAY 3, 2012 (SOURCE: AFP -- ACCESS ALL) <br></br><br></br>- SOUNDBITE 1 (TC: 00'03" - 00'29"): Chen Guangcheng (man), Chinese activist (Mandarin, 26 secs): <br></br>(Q: How are things?) <br></br>(TC: 00'03" - 00'09" timecode starts at reporter's question and includes the answer) <br></br>Chen: "I am lying in the bed, I may get medical checks soon." <br></br><br></br>(Q: How long are you going to stay at Chaoyang hospital?) (TC: 00'03" - 00'17") <br></br>Chen: "I don’t know." <br></br><br></br>(Q: You don’t know…how do you feel about your safety inside Chaoyang hospital?) <br></br>(TC: 00'17" - 00'29") <br></br>Chen: "I don't think it is safe here." <br></br><br></br><br></br>- SOUNDBITE 2 (TC: 00'30" - 00'38"): Chen Guangcheng (man), Chinese activist (Mandarin, 8 secs): <br></br>(Q: What do you want from the US government?) <br></br>Chen: "I want the US to help me attain this goal. (of going overseas)" <br></br><br></br><br></br>- SOUNDBITE 3 (TC: 00'40" - 00'50"): Chen Guangcheng (man), Chinese activist (Mandarin, 10 secs): <br></br>C: "What to think about the future…I don’t know…but I have this thought…" <br></br><br></br>(Q: Do you want to go to US? Do you want to go to US?) <br></br>(TC: 00'46" - 00'50") <br></br>Chen: "Yes." <br></br><br></br><br></br>- SOUNDBITE 4: (TC: 00'52" - 01'18"): Chen Guangcheng (man), Chinese activist (Mandarin, 26 secs): <br></br>(Q: The US government says you didn't mention you wanted to go to the States while you were inside the embassy.) (TC: 00'52" - 01'06"") <br></br>Chen: "I did not make the final decision when I was at the US embassy, I made it yesterday." <br></br><br></br>(Q: Why did you take this decision? Because you don't not feel safe?) (TC: 01'06" - 01'18") <br></br>Chen: "Yes, I don't feel safe here. I want to leave. I have no idea what is happening at my home." <br></br><br></br><br></br>- SOUNDBITE 5 (TC: 01'20" - 01'42"): Chen Guangcheng (man), Chinese activist (Mandarin, 22 secs): <br></br>(Q: US mentioned they want China to keep you safe…) (TC: 01'20" - 01'36") <br></br>Chen: "Yes, but I do not feel being protected. And I could not make any call or receive any calls last night on my mobile." <br></br><br></br>(Q: You can make calls now?) (TC: 01'36" - 01'42") <br></br>Chen: "I can only receive calls, but can't make calls." <br></br><br></br><br></br>- SOUNDBITE 6 (TC: 01'43" - 01'56"): Chen Guangcheng (man), Chinese activist (Mandarin, 13 secs): <br></br>(Q: The security forces out there did not want you to escape, but you managed to escape, it's quite unbelievable. <br></br>Chen: "God helped me." <br></br><br></br><br></br>- SOUNDBITE 7 (TC: 01'56" - 02'27"): Chen Guangcheng (man), Chinese activist (Mandarin, 31 secs): <br></br>(Q: Are you able to leave the hospital now?) <br></br>(TC: 01'57" - 02'05") <br></br>C: "I don’t know." <br></br><br></br>(Q: We could not contact you yesterday, we could only get through to your wife) (TC: 02'05" - 02'21") <br></br>Chen: "Yes, they didn't allow my wife to leave (the hospital)." <br></br><br></br>(Q: So they do not allow you to go out?) (TC: 02'21" - 02'27") <br></br>C: "Yes, this seems to be the case." <br></br><br></br><br></br>- SOUNDBITE 8 (TC: 02'28" - 03'07"): Chen Guangcheng (man), Chinese activist (Mandarin, 38 secs): <br></br>(Q: You hurt your leg. How is it? Can you walk?) <br></br>(TC: 02'28" - 02'35") <br></br>C: "I can't. I have a fracture." <br></br><br></br>(Q: Fracture, where?) (TC: 02'35" - 02'51") <br></br>C: "Bone, right foot." <br></br><br></br>(Q: You cannot walk…is your wife staying at the hospital or somewhere else?) <br></br>(TC: 02'51" - 03:07") <br></br>C: "She is at the hospital…we are in the same room." <br></br><br></br><br></br>- SOUNDBITE 9 (TC: 03'08" - 03'22"): Chen Guangcheng (man),Chinese activist (Mandarin, 14 secs): <br></br>(Q: How is the hospital treating you?) <br></br>C: "Very nice" <br></br><br></br>...long pause, then a female voice is heard in the background, and the line goes dead. <br></br><br></br><br></br>/// <br></br>----------------------------------------------------- <br></br>AFP TEXT STORY: <br></br><br></br>China-US-talks-diplomacy-rights-activist-Chen,lead <br></br> Activist pleads for US help to leave China <br></br><br></br> BEIJING, China, May 3, 2012 (AFP) - Activist Chen Guangcheng told AFP on Thursday he did not feel safe in China despite assurances made under a deal to remove him from the US embassy, pleading for American help to take him abroad. <br></br> "I want to go overseas. I want the US to help me and my family leave China," Chen said by phone from a Beijing hospital where he is being treated for a foot injury suffered during a daring escape from house arrest on April 22. <br></br> "I don't feel safe here. I want to leave." <br></br> Chen, who riled Chinese authorities by exposing forced abortions and sterilisations under the "one-child" population control policy, fled his heavily guarded eastern China home and gained refuge in the US embassy, where he demanded assurances on his freedom. <br></br> He left the embassy Wednesday and was reunited with family members at the hospital after the US said it had received "assurances" from China that he would be safe from reprisals. <br></br> But US-based rights group China Aid has said Chen had "reluctantly" left the embassy and that it had been told by "reliable sources" that Beijing had made threats against his relatives over the affair. <br></br> Chen said he did not initially want to seek asylum overseas but changed his mind Wednesday after emerging from the embassy amid concern for his safety and that of his family. <br></br> "I did not make the final decision at the US embassy, I made it yesterday. I don't think the US is protecting me," he said. <br></br> Chen said he had not yet spoken to any Chinese officials about his situation and believed the hospital would not allow him to leave even if he wanted to. <br></br> He said he broke his right foot during his highly unlikely escape from smothering security at his home in Shandong province, where he and his family had been under round-the-clock surveillance since his 2010 release from prison. <br></br> Chen was jailed on what supporters have called trumped-up charges brought by local officials angry over his activism. <br></br> He has accused those officials of persistent physical abuses and threats against himself and his family. <br></br> "God helped me escape. God helped me," he said.