State officials dispute dissident's account - Politico (blog)

State Department officials are contradicting the account of a Chinese dissident who had been holed up in the American embassy in Beijing until Wednesday.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Chen Guangcheng said that a U.S. official told him that Chinese authorities threatened kill his wife if he didn't leave the embassy, and that he wants to leave China — an account that a State Department spokeswoman disputed.

"At no time did any US official speak to Chen about physical or legal threats to his wife and children. Nor did Chinese officials make any such threats to us. US interlocutors did make clear that if Chen elected to stay in the Embassy, Chinese officials had indicated to us that his family would be returned to Shandong, and they would lose their opportunity to negotiate for reunification," spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.

"And at no point during his time in the Embassy did Chen ever request political asylum in the US. At every opportunity, he expressed his desire to stay in China, reunify with his family, continue his education and work for reform in his country. All our diplomacy was directed at putting him in the best possible position to achieve his objectives," Nuland said.

Chen, a blind human rights activist against China's one-child policy, fled to the American embassy six days ago to avoid house arrest by Chinese authorities — initiating a diplomatic standoff between two of the world's most powerful countries over the status of one individual

Earlier Wednesday, an agreement appeared to be at hand for Chen's safe release, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in Beijing for a bilateral summit.

The ongoing dispute over Chen's release and his continued statements now threaten to overshadow a bilateral meeting between Chinese and U.S. officials on trade and security issues.