중국 시각장애인 인권변호사 천광정이 2일 중국 병원에서 그의 가족과 재회하고 있다. ( AP 제공)

[베이징=AP/] 인권변호사 천광청이 4일 중국 베이징의 병실에 격리된 체 입원해 있으면서 마음을 바꿔 가족과 함께 중국을 떠나고 싶다고 호소하고 나서면서 미국과 중국 간의 외교적 관계가 더욱 악화되는 전환점을 맞고 있다.

그는 자신과 관련한 청문회가 열리는 미국 의회로 전화를 걸어 힐러리 클린턴 미 국무장관을 만나기를 원하다 면서 “나는 그녀로부터 더 많은 도움을 받고 싶다”고 말했다.

천 변호사는 미국 당국이 수일 동안 중국 측과의 협상을 통해 그를 고향에서 다른 곳으로 이주시켜 대학에서 법률 공부를 할 수 있게 됐다는 미 당국의 말에 맘을 바꿔 미 대사관을 나왔다.

미국 대사관을 나와서 병원에서 그의 부인과 만난 후 그가 고향집에서 탈출한 이후 부인을 공안원이 수 시간 동안 의자에다 묶고 조사를 했다는 말을 듣고 마음을 바꿔 미국행을 요구하는 한편 미국에 대해서도 버림을 받았다는 배신감을 느끼고 있는 듯하다.

천광청의 이런 미국 고위 당국에 대한 도움 요청은 미국에 압력으로 작용하는 동시에 베이징에서 클린턴 장관과 세계 정치 경제문제를 토의하는 연례 중미 전략회의를 개최하는 중국 당국을 당혹스럽게 하고 있다.

마크 토너 미 국무부 대변인은 3일 미국 외교관들이 천 변호사를 만나지 못했으나 두번이나 전화 통화를 했다고 발표했다.

이런 와중에 오바마 행정부는 공화당 대통령 예비후보인 미트 롬니로 부터 천광청이 미국 대사관을 떠난 것은 “자유의 검은 날”이며 “오바마 행정부의 수치”라는 비난과 함께 공화당 의원들로부터 미국 외교의 대실패라는 강한 질책을 받았다.

오바마 행정부는 천광정 변호사 신상에 관여하면서 중국 민권 문제를 잘못 처리한다는 빌미를 제공하여 오바마의 대통령선거에 악영향을 미칠 수 있게 되었다.

(영문기사 원문)

Activist's fate deepens US-China suspicions

BEIJING (AP) — The diplomatic disarray deepened Thursday after a blind activist reversed course and asked to leave China with his family, abandoning an arduously negotiated agreement even though he had left the protection of the U.S. Embassy and was in a Beijing hospital ringed by Chinese police.

He even called in to a congressional hearing in Washington, telling lawmakers he wanted to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. "I hope I can get more help 　from her," Chen said.

Chen's high-profile effort to keep his case in the public eye served to increase pressure on Washington and embarrass Beijing as it hosted Clinton and other U.S. officials for annual talks on global political and economic hotspots.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner confirmed U.S. officials weren't able to see Chen in person Thursday but spoke twice with him by telephone, and once with his wife, Yuan Weijing, outside the hospital.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration's handling of the case drew sharp criticism 　from Mitt Romney and Republican lawmakers.

Campaigning in Virginia, the Republican presidential candidate said reports that American officials allowed Chen to leave the embassy represented a "dark day for freedom" and a "day of shame for the Obama administration."

In a phone call 　from his hospital room in Beijing, Chen told lawmakers: "I want to meet with Secretary Clinton. ... I want to thank her face to face."

After several days of talksU.S. officials said they extracted a guarantee that Chen would be relocated outside his home province to a university town 　where he could formally study law. U.S. officials said they would periodically monitor his situation, though they did not specify how.

But hours after a gleeful Chen left the U.S. compound, he 　changed his mind, driven in part by his wife's tales of abuse and retribution in the days after Chen managed to escape 　from his rural farmhouse.

Under the deal that brought him out of the embassy, the family was reunited and taken to Chaoyang Hospital, 　　　where Chen was treated for a foot injured in his escape. There, Chen's wife told him what had happened after local officials discovered he was gone.

She "told him his family was tied to chairs and interrogated by police, and that his nephew attacked somebody and is on the run outside and might be in life-threatening dangers," said Li Jinsong, Chen's lawyer. "These things undoubtedly have left an impact on him."

Chen also felt abandoned by the U.S., finding no embassy staff at the hospital to assure his protection.

"The embassy told me that they would have someone accompany me the whole time," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview late Wednesday. "I felt they did not tell me the truth on this issue."

　　Having involved itself in the fate of an activist of Chen's stature, the Obama administration can ill afford to abandon him and risk election-year criticism.