Closed captioning of: Blind Chinese activist in U.S.
>>>
the
white house
is welcoming the resolution of a tense diplomatic episode involving the u.s. and china that blind
human rights activist
we've been following for several weeks was put on a flight today from
beijing
to newark, new jersey, to begin a new life.
chen guangcheng
arrived earlier this evening, and we get the latest from
michelle franzen
.
>>>
chen
seeks final word from th chise government, but he and his family were free to board a flight to the u.s. there was a wait at
beijing
's airport. last minute back and forth negotiations that ended with
chen
being escorted to the plane in a wheelchair. freedom now a reality.
>>
he and his wife and two children had beenn house confinement by the
chinese government
and that day will finay end, and it is today. i think that's the kind of relief i can tell.
>> reporter:
a relief after seven years of what the blind chinese dissident described as systematic abuse by the
chinese government
.
chen
was jailed for accusing china of forcing women to have abortions as part of its one child policy. after his release, he remained under
house arrest
until late last month when he made a daring escape, scaling a wall and
taking refuge
at the
u.s. embassy
. the timing occurred just as
u.s. secretary of state
hillary clinton
was heading to
beijing
for talks on improving economic trade relations between the u.s. and china. instead when she arrived, she had to deal with an intense
human rights
issue. under pressure from chinese officials,
chen
left the embassy and remained in a hospital until today.
human rights
groups say the compromise is a positive step for u.s.-china relations.
>>
the relationship hazmatured and has survived a very difficult month of negotiations and coming at a pretty critical time. that is on the tail of the legal expert dialogue with the u.s.
>> reporter:
friends say the chinese legal activist will focus on regaining his strength after his ordeal and looks forward to pursuing his studies as a visiting scholar at new
york university
.
michelle franzen
, nbc news, new york.
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