China dissident 'set to fly to US'

Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng has told journalists he is at Beijing's international airport and awaiting departure to the United States.

"I'm at the airport. I do not have a passport. I don't know when I will be leaving. I think I'm going to New York," he told the AFP news agency by telephone on Saturday.

He said he thought Chinese authorities might hand his passport directly to US officials, who would then insert a US visa before giving it to him.

"I might be heading for a flight to the United States, but I haven't been told, and I haven't received our passports, so I'm not sure yet," Chen told the Reuters news agency. "We're waiting to find out what's happening."

Chen recently spent six days in the US embassy in Beijing after escaping house arrest in north-east China.

He wants to leave China and has been offered a place at New York university.

Chen Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who campaigned against forced abortions under China's one-child policy, was jailed for four years in 2006 for disrupting traffic and damaging property, and placed under house arrest after his release in 2010.

Last month he fled from house arrest in Shandong province. According to media accounts, the blind activist climbed over the wall of the property with the help of his wife late at night.

When he landed on the other side he broke his foot. He is then said to have felt his way in the dark, stumbling and falling, to a nearby village when a friend took him into his home.

He was then driven hundreds of kilometres away to the American embassy. He took refuge there during a visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was in Beijing for high-level talks.

On 2 May, after six days at the embassy, he agreed to leave the compound, initially saying he wanted to stay in China.

He was taken to a Beijing hospital to be treated for his injury. During his stay at the hospital he called the US Congress twice.

On 3 May he pleaded for help to leave China with his family, saying he feared for his safety. On 16 May he called US lawmakers again accusing Shandong authorities of harassing his family.

Chen was offered a place to study law at New York University after Beijing said he would be allowed to apply to study abroad.

The US has said visas for Chen and his family are ready.