Subscribe to RSSMr. Chen is at it again
Mr. Chen, well done sir. Escaping the authorities in the “Land of Many Exports” is quite a TV-movie deserving feat in itself, but doing it without the aid of sight is more deserving of an action packed, Jet-Li blockbuster. Chinese authorities have already begun to round up relatives and associates of the blind activist, who fled from house arrest this past week. Talk about an embarrassing situation for the country that boasts almost 20 percent of the world’s population. For such newsworthy individual put on house arrest, it’s hard not to imagine that the King Kong of a government could easily spare a couple hundred officers to secure a perimeter around Chen’s house. Then again, who would’ve thought that the blind man would be the one to attempt, and successfully complete, such a daring escape?
Like a slightly handicapped Jason Bourne, Mr. Chen made it stealthily to the country’s capital, and hopefully, to the U.S. Embassy in the mad city. The U.S. and other international rights groups have fervently expressed their disapproval at the treatment of the Ray Charles of Chinese activism and his family. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has demanded his release in the past, was due in China this week for a previously arranged meeting, which will now be tainted by Mr. Chen’s daring case.
If Mr. Chen has, in fact, made it to the embassy, his case will resonate with the remnant aura of 1989, when the prominent activist Fang Lizhi fled to the U.S. mission in Beijing, where he remained for over a year while the two governments tried to agree on a deal. Talk about a weird predicament, one country providing sanctuary to a vigilante on the soil of the country that wants him captive. Good ol’ democracy.
Mr. Chen was placed under house arrest in 2010 after spending more than four years in jail for disrupting traffic and damaging property. So six years for disrupting traffic and causing damage? He’s an activist, yeah, but he also has the slight impairment of not being able to see, which could easily be a factor in both said charges. He had also exposed how local authorities in Linyi, Shandong province, forced thousands of women to have abortions or be sterilized as part of China’s ‘one-child’ policy. Not that this information is any news, but it’s hard not to see why Hu Jintau might get a hard on at the thought of once again apprehending the runaway ‘outlaw.’
Some of his colleagues said this past Sunday’s escape had taken months to plan, and was carried out with the help of a network of friends and activists. It would’ve been even more impressive if he had managed the escape on his own, but regardless, these boys deserve a medal and complimentary dinner and drinks at the Brigantine for their extraordinary tactics that outsmarted the smart.
If Mr. Chen has made it to the U.S. Embassy, then they should be obligated to protect his live and that of his families. America has apathetically been looking on at this blind William Wallace’s case for too long, and if he finally comes a’knockin on the Land of the Free’s doorstep for help, then President Obama and friends better answer with an outreached hand and a hot shower less America no longer carries the principles it was founded upon. China is massive, and the information the outside world, and even their inside world, recieves is limited to what the government will let out, which isn’t always true. For the world to find out more about the happenings of the mysterious empire, more people like Mr. Chen must ball up and get ready to rumble, and the U.S. and other democracies must offer more protection to these individuals than Don Corleone.
