Beijing regime takes to bludgeoning Chen Guangcheng's family

[Satish]

Washington Times
May 12, 2013

Making China keep its promise to dissident Chen Guangcheng
By Editorial Board,

JUST A WEEK or so ago, we raised the question on this page about
whether the Chinese would keep their promise to investigate abuses
against the family of Chen Guangcheng, the blind dissident lawyer who
escaped from his illegal home detention in Shandong province last
year, was sheltered briefly in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and
eventually came to New York. We also questioned the commitment of the
United States to keep the pressure on China to honor its pledge at the
time Mr. Chen left the embassy and the country.

Mr. Chen lamented to us recently that neither side is living up to its
promises. He said that his relatives continue to be harassed in China,
with beer bottles and bricks thrown at their houses, cars vandalized
and posters put up accusing them of treason. Some relatives were also
told by prosecutors that they would be criminally charged. Mr. Chen
felt these actions were intended to silence his potent criticism of
human rights in China.

On May 9, China delivered a new punch to the gut. According to Bob Fu
of ChinaAid, who has been deeply involved with the case, Mr. Chen’s
older brother, Chen Guangfu, was riding a motorbike at 9:45 a.m.,
about two miles from his home, when he was stopped by a black car
without a license plate. Two men got out of the car and beat him and
wrecked the motorbike. The beating was near a police station in
Mengyin county of Shandong province. Chen Guangfu immediately reported
the incident to the police, but they have taken no action to find the
assailants.

The beating seems to be a defiant message that China could not care
less about the promises made last year to then-Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton. This kind of beating does not happen without
the instigation and approval of higher officials; it suggests that
China is far more determined to intimidate Mr. Chen than to honor any
pledge made to Washington. Thugs beating up a brother on a lonely
country road sends a message loud and clear.

Last Thursday, acting deputy State Department spokesman Patrick
Ventrell said “we remain deeply concerned” about reports of continued
harassment of the family and the beating of Chen’s brother. Secretary
of State John Kerry sent a written protest to Foreign Minister Wang Yi
about the beating. Such a response suggests the United States isn’t
going to make a public fuss.

Often in managing a relationship as complex as the United States and
China, it pays dividends to balance conflicting imperatives —
security, economics, human rights and politics, among other things.
But there are also times when the United States ought to stand up and
shout that something is amiss. This is one of those moments. Some
forceful, public comments by Mr. Kerry and President Obama might ease
the Chen family’s nightmare at the hands of thugs, and remind China’s
leaders that their promises should not be simply crumpled up and
discarded whenever they feel like it.

[rst9]

Bullshit. Just remember, he asked his brother to come to the U.S.
with him. His brother refused.