Romney: Obama handled Chen shamefully
2012-05-03 22:11
Portsmouth - Leading Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said on Thursday that the US government's handling of Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng's case is "a day of shame" for the Obama administration.
Chen, one of China's best-known human rights activists, grabbed world headlines with his dramatic flight from 19 months of house arrest, reaching the US Embassy complex in Beijing last week.
The blind dissident appealed on Thursday for asylum in the United States, throwing into doubt an agreement used to coax him out of hiding in the embassy and fanning US-China tensions.
Chen is now under Chinese control in a Beijing hospital under a deal with the United States.
"If these reports are true, this is a dark day for freedom, and it's a day of shame" for President Barack Obama's administration, Romney said at a campaign event in Virginia.
