Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Chen Guangcheng, second from left, walks with Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state, fourth from left, Gary Locke, U.S. Ambassador to China, third from left, and U.S. State Department legal adviser Harold Koh, left, in Beijing, China, on Wednesday.
Photo: Bloomberg

US President Barack Obama administration’s diplomatic predicament deepened yesterday, when a blind Chinese legal activist who took refuge in the US embassy said he now wants to go abroad, rejecting a deal that was supposed to keep him safely in China.

Only hours after Chen Guangcheng (陳光誠) left the embassy for a hospital checkup and reunion with his family, he began telling friends and foreign media they feel threatened and want to go abroad. At first taken aback at the reversal, the US State Department said officials spoke twice by phone with Chen and met with his wife, with both affirming their desire to leave.

At 10pm on Tuesday, the government announced a major about-face in its policy on electricity rates. Rather than the initial plan that would have seen household electricity rates increase by an average of 16.9 percent, commercial rates by 39 percent and industrial rates by 35 percent from May 15, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) unveiled a scheme to implement the increase in phases.

There will be three stages, Ma said — 40 percent of the original increase on June 10 and 40 percent on Dec. 10, while the date when the remaining 20 percent increase is implemented depends on whether state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) has presented an acceptable reform program to the government.