E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSMitt Romney discusses the controversy surrounding Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng during a campaign stop in Portsmouth, Va.
Updated 3:32 p.m. - Mitt Romney criticized the Obama administration's handling of a diplomatic dispute with China over that country's treatment of dissident Chen Guangcheng.
In a campaign trail appearance in Virginia, Romney suggested that the Obama administration had not acted forcefully enough to ensure the safety of Chen, a blind dissident who escaped house arrest and made it to a U.S. embassy.
"Now just in the last day or two we've heard some disturbing things from across world which suggest potentially if the reports are true some troubling developments there where an individual, Mr. Chen, has sought freedom in an embassy of the United States of America. Aren't we proud of the fact that people seeking freedom come to our embassy to find it?" Romney asked.
He also suggested that the U.S. might have sped up Chen's exit from their embassy to facilitate economic and diplomatic talks this week between the U.S. and China.
"If these reports are true, this is a dark day for freedom," Romney said. "And it's a day of shame for the Obama administration."
"We are a place for freedom here and around the world and we should stand up and defend freedom wherever it is under attack," he added.
The incident has become a flashpoint in U.S.-China relations, especially in terms of the pressure on the Chinese to improve their human rights record.
Chen had sought refuge at the U.S. embassy, though the administration wouldn't initially acknowledge that detail.
"Obviously, I’m aware of the press reports on the situation in China, but I’m not going to make a statement on the issue," President Obama said Monday at the White House. "What I would like to emphasize is that every time we meet with China, the issue of human rights comes up. It is our belief that not only is that the right thing to do because it comports with our principles and our belief in freedom and human rights, but also because we actually think China will be stronger as it opens up and liberalizes its own system."
Chen left the U.S. embassy and went to the hospital seeking treatment for a broken foot. That followed discussions about a deal to resettle in China in exchange for guarantees from the Chinese government about Chen's family's safety.
However, Chen made clear on Thursday that he now wishes to leave China, possibly on the same plane as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is currently traveling in China.
Romney didn't directly address how he, as president, would handle the situation differently, or whether a Romney administration would allow Chen to travel to the U.S. seeking asylum.
A campaign aide followed up, though: "Gov. Romney is deeply concerned about the safety of Chen Guangcheng and his family and believes that Chen would certainly meet the asylum requirement of a “well-founded fear of persecution” had he requested asylum while at the Embassy. But at this point, it’s not an option, and the Obama administration must redouble efforts to protect him."
The Obama administration has been wary of being seen as publicly pressuring the Chinese government, a nation whose economy and national security strategy is closely attuned to the U.S.
Leave a Comment:
I know this thread is just about over, but.......Romney is showing just how he knows nothing of what he speaks. To Mitt Romney......either give specifics on how you would do things differently on shut up. Keep your mouth shut because you just stick a foot in it. Get back to "its the economy, stupid". Chen will be on a plane to the US or somewhere before Romney knows what hit him, and he'll have to back track all this....again.
So, Romney believes that the decisions and risks of a threatened Chinese dissident and his family are the fault of the Obama administration, not Chinese oppression and deceit. We have plenty of leverage with China and this story has barely begun to play out. Romney has no idea how foreign diplomacy and international relations work. To him, foreign policy is not run by the State Department, but the Department of Defense. The multilevel intelligence and diplomacy structure of America, international treaties, economic leverage, international trade, and negotiation advantages are completely out of Romney's grasp (and reach, thank God).
this man wants to be president and doesnt know why.
This IDIOT in chief & his inept regime can't get anything straight.
Only thing we will find out later is that OBIGOT was dumber & did more idiotic stuff behind the scenes.
We will also find out he WAS BORN IN KENYA.
Any fool knows that it is much to early to jump to conclusions in this situation's nascent stages. Some of you might want to wait until the movie comes out; it has pictures!
ALSO: I want you to go to the blackboard and write 1,000 times:
I WILL STOP MAKING STUPID REMARKS, I WILL STOP MAKING STUPID...
Be certain to use the white chalk this time since you now know that your white finger marks are indiscernible on the blackboard!
Remember to sleep upside down each night so that the ignorance you suffer from may drain from your corrupt brain!
Romney just mad an azz out of the white house negro.
OOOOOOOOoooo, there certainly is no racial backdrop to the Obama administration. ROFLMBAO!
First, Ron Paul: If Ron Paul was president, George Zimmerman would never have been brought to justice. He believes that black kids as young as 13 y/o should be treated by the judicial system as full adults! His premise is based almost solely upon size and he makes that quite clear. Because black, male teens, are generally larger in stature, they should be sent to prison and not even bother with juvenile detention. Nothing could be more unfair. No person gets to designate what size they will be. Such thoughts are not at all intelligent; following his line of thinking, all elephants such be killed on sight!
About Barack: What is it that whites want Pres Obama to be guilty of? Should he TAKE responsibility for events or episodes that he did not personally cause and was never involved in? You say you like to blame; even at that, you should want to blame the right person. George Bush and Dick Chinface ruined this economy before Pres Obama was ever inaugurated. They lied to the American public so they could have their war which cost not only thousands of lives but also billions upon billions of dollars. George Bush inherited a strong economy with surplus dollars and then pursued and killed the wrong man! Saddam Hussein did not claim credit for 9/11, BUT Osama bin-Laden surely did. Bush gave up on even trying to find bin-Laden and then turned his pursuit to Saddam. That was absolutely CRAZY and could not be justified so then he insisted that Iraq was manufacturing nuclear weapons of mass destruction and housing them somewhere on Iraqi soil. It simply wasn't true. No WMD was ever found but Saddam Hussein was up-rooted and hung in public.
By the time Barack Obama was sworn in as president, America was already now engulfed in two wars which ate up the nations wealth. Also under the Bush admn. regulations that would not allow certain digging or drilling, EPA standards, and water rights, protection and safety of wet lands and fading species of birds and plant life, were all in jeopardy and it was this situation that Barack Obama was handed. In his final days as president and while still in the Lame Duck session, George Bush left Barack Obama a big mess by de-regulating everything he could up to his final hour.
Whether ANYONE wants to admit it or not, much of Pres Obama's woes is based solely upon his race. As a black man, Congress refused to cooperate with him and Mitch McConnell made that very plain when he said, "Barack Obama cannot be allowed to win a second term!" Recently, information has surfaced which proves without doubt that the ReSuckican Party had a discussion about how to ruin Barack Obama on the same night of his inauguration. The ReSucks also made a pledge, which is in direct violation of the oath each one took when they agreed to serve the public's best interest, by also signing a document submitted by Grover Norquist, to never raise taxes on the mega-wealthy, under any circumstances. So the GOP is responsible for whatever "failings" Pres Obama might have suffered had it not been so obvious that they were trying desperately to cause him to fail. That is why blacks, I don't know about whites, but blacks hold Pres Obama harmless because whites want to ruin him.
CORRECTION: Not all white people.
Our gracious commentators: LIKE THIS IS A FASHION SHOW OF SOME TYPE!!!!
When Romney talks, It's like the devil whispering in your ear, and you smell war, WAR,WWAR!!!!!! He's got to have the last word. I guess that is just all of that wealth, and ENTITLEMENT!!!! Just like a spoiled child....."I want it , I WANT IT< I WANT IT!!!
And by the way, This man, rich or not won't throw money at anyone who votes for him....What he's done for a living --- shutting down, and selling out buisnesses in the U.S. If a goat chews up cans all it's life, it's going to keep doing that for the REST of it's life. We will all being working 20+ hours a day for 25 pennies a day. SOUND GOOD?