BEIJING: China warned blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng yesterday to mind his language ahead of his trip next month to political rival Taiwan, on a visit which could infuriate Beijing if Chen uses it to criticise Chinese rights abuses.
China has been largely silent on the issue of Chen since he fled from house arrest and took refuge in the US embassy in Beijing last year, straining Sino-US relations, before he was allowed to leave for New York for study. Since then, Chen has taken his campaign to improve human rights in China to US politicians and Europe.
In late June, Chen travels to Taiwan which China claims as its own. The two sides have been governed separately since defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
Chen will meet the head of Taiwan’s opposition Democratic Progressive Party. China says the party seeks the island’s formal independence, something China considers unacceptable. Agencies
