Blind Chinese activist appears to have left for U.S.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China allowed a blind legal activist, Chen Guangcheng, to leave a hospital in Beijing on Saturday and board a plane bound for the United States, a move that could signal the end of a diplomatic standoff between the two countries.

Chen's escape from house arrest in northeastern China last month and subsequent stay in the U.S. embassy caused huge embarrassment for China and led to a diplomatic rift while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was visiting Beijing for talks to improve ties between the world's two biggest economies.

There was no initial visual confirmation that Chen was aboard a United Airlines aircraft bound for Newark, but the U.S. State Department said he was en route to the United States, along with his wife and two children.

Chen's friend, Jiang Tianyong, cited the activist as saying that he and his family obtained their passports at the airport on Saturday after his release from hospital, hours before he was due to board a flight.

"I just spoke to him and he said he was about to board the flight very soon," Jiang said.

"I'm obviously very happy. When he boards the plane, he can finally say: 'I'm free'. At the same time, I feel a sense of regret because such a large country like China can't even tolerate a citizen like him to exist here."

Jiang said Chen was headed to New York, where the blind activist has been offered a fellowship from New York University.

The official Xinnhua news agency said Chen had applied to study in the United States under legal procedures, but made no mention of whether he had left the country. The Foreign Ministry said this month that Chen could apply to study abroad, a move seen as a way of easing Sino-U.S. tensions on human rights.

Chen's abrupt departure for the airport came about three weeks after he arrived at the Chaoyang Hospital from the U.S. embassy, where he had taken refuge after a dramatic escape from 19 months under house arrest in his home village.

Chen Guangcheng, 40, who taught himself law, was a leading advocate of the rights defense movement. He came to national fame by campaigning for farmers and disabled citizens and exposing forced abortions.

He was jailed for a little over four years from 2006 on what he and his supporters say were trumped-up charges designed to end his rights advocacy.

He had accused Shandong officials in 2005 of forcing women to have late-term abortions and sterilizations to comply with China's strict family-planning policies. Authorities finally moved against him with charges of whipping up a crowd that disrupted traffic and damaged property.

Formally released in 2010, he remained under house arrest in his home village in Shandong, which officials turned into a fortress of walls, security cameras and guards in plain clothes who kept Chen isolated.

POLICE AT THE AIRPORT

United Airlines flight UA 88, which had been due to leave at 3.45 p.m., departed around 5.50 p.m. (0950 GMT). Three uniformed police officers and plainclothes officers followed passengers down the mobile corridor leading to the plane's door.

The cabin crew waited for passengers to take their seats before closing the curtain to the front section, where the business class seats were located, a Reuters witness said.

"Don't even think about it, you won't be able to get anything," a member of the cabin crew told a Reuters reporter holding a video camera.

Chen had earlier said he believed he would be headed on a flight to the United States, but added he was still uncertain of it. The U.S. embassy was not immediately available for comment.

Chen had earlier told Reuters by telephone: "I'm at the airport now. I've already left the hospital. But there are many things that are still unclear."

Chen said that his wife and two children were at the airport with him, accompanied by hospital staff. He said the family was anticipating a departure for the United States, but was waiting for news on what was to happen next.

Two police cars were stationed below the walkway to the plane, and about 10 security officials in plainclothes circulated around the airport.

Passengers at the gate to Chen's flight appeared not to know that he would be on the same flight.

"If our country is a body, his plight is like a sickness that in the future will help the body to protect and strengthen itself," said Xi Jingwen, who was awaiting to board a flight to the United States, when asked about Chen Guangcheng.

"This is how I feel about Chen Guangcheng himself and other similar things that have happened in China. All of it can encourage the political system to improve and reform."

DRAMATIC ESCAPE

Chen's confinement, his escape and the furor that ensued have made him part of China's dissident folklore: a blind prisoner outfoxing Communist Party controls in an echo of the man who stood down an army tank near Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Chen's supporters welcomed his departure, saying he had indicated that he would like to return to China.

"I even told him...that he has to do a repeat of him scaling walls. If not, we wouldn't be able to believe it," Nanjing-based activist He Peirong said of her earlier conversation with Chen.

She was one of six activists who drove Chen from Shandong to Beijing after his escape. The village of Dongshigu, where Chen's mother and other relatives remain, is still under lockdown.

The U.S. embassy had earlier thought it had stuck a deal to allow Chen to stay in China without retribution, but that fell apart as Chen grew worried about his family's safety. He changed his mind about staying and asked to travel to the United States.

Human rights are a big factor in relations between China and the United States, even though Washington needs China's help on issues such as Iran, North Korea, Sudan and the global economy.

(Additional reporting by Max Duncan and Michael Martina; Editing by Ron Popeski)

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