Dissident From China Arrives in U.S., Ending an Ordeal

After a daylong and hastily arranged flight from Beijing, Mr. Chen stood on crutches — with a lawyer at his side and facing spectators cordoned off by the police — and addressed a throng of reporters. He said he was grateful to the American Embassy and the Chinese government, which allowed him to leave China, and thanked Chinese officials for “dealing with the situation with restraint and calm.”

“I hope to see that they continue to open discourse and earn the respect and trust of the people,” said Mr. Chen, one of China’s most prominent dissidents, who spoke through a translator near the New York University apartment tower that will become his home.

It was not clear weeks ago that China would permit Mr. Chen to leave, and the United States’ role in his evading the authorities threatened to cause a diplomatic breach just as American officials were seeking China’s cooperation on a range of economic and security issues it considers crucial.

Mr. Chen’s departure from Beijing on Saturday, and the arduous negotiations that led up to it, appeared to reflect careful calculations in both countries that the episode was not worth jeopardizing relations. The Chinese, who were initially infuriated and complained bitterly about what they considered interference in their internal affairs, in the end quietly engaged with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and a team of diplomats to defuse the situation.

The trip to New York ended an improbable journey that began in late April, when despite his lack of sight, Mr. Chen scaled the walls around his house, sneaked past the guards who held him captive and was whisked to Beijing by a human rights activist. American officials agreed to provide at least temporary shelter, but the pickup almost went awry: Chinese security cars trailed their vehicle, forcing them to sweep Mr. Chen into their car from another vehicle and race through the streets of the capital to the embassy.

But the drama did not end there. Mr. Chen decided more than a week later to stay in China, only to change his mind several hours later when American officials left him at a hospital and friends expressed fears for his safety. That led to renewed negotiations and eventually to Saturday’s release.

Now, after years of isolation — his every move at his home recorded by surveillance cameras — and serving time in a Chinese jail, Mr. Chen found himself at the center of a media frenzy generated by his release.

But the sudden ability to speak out was bittersweet, which he acknowledged in an interview on the plane. China has a pattern of allowing some especially vocal dissidents to leave the country in order to minimize the impact of their activism at home, and it is unclear if he will be able to effect change as easily from so far away, while he studies at New York University.

“I don’t really feel that happy, but rather sentimental,” he said in the brief interview. “After all the suffering for years, I don’t have those tearful moments anymore, but I do feel something inside.”

He looked calm, but his hands shook as he talked about leaving a country he has tried to change from within for years.

“I’m very clear what kind of role I’m playing right now,” he said. “Opportunity and risk exist at the same time.”

In Washington, the State Department praised the Chinese government in a statement that reflected the United States’ handling of the case from the start: understated and nonconfrontational, despite the emotions and high stakes involved for both countries. “We also express our appreciation for the manner in which we were able to resolve this matter and to support Mr. Chen’s desire to study in the U.S. and pursue his goals,” the State Department’s spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said.

Her statement referred to the complex understanding — the Chinese were loath to call it a deal — in which Mr. Chen will be allowed to attend law school on a fellowship rather than seek asylum, which the authorities in Beijing would have considered an affront. School officials said they had already stocked a faculty apartment with Chinese food and new furniture for him.