Twitter vs. secret diplomacy in the Chen Guangcheng saga [Obama/Mainstream Media Caught Lying]

LA TIMES ^ | 5/5/12

[SoFloFreeper]

The celebrated deal that would have ensured that blind dissident Chen Guangcheng would stay in China began to dissolve publicly with a tweet: “GUANGCHENG TALKED TO ME. WHAT MEDIA REPORTED IS WRONG.”

The unsettling Twitter message from Beijing activist Zeng Jinyan began a firestorm of debate over whether Chen had been coerced into the deal with threats to his family, an alarming idea that gutted the most important promise behind the agreement -- that Chen would be kept safe.

[SoFloFreeper]

It appears as though the media and Team Obama were working hand in hand to keep this anti-abortion activist under the thumb of China's government.

Except Twitter exposed their lies.

[nuconvert]

“Cull compared the Chen saga with what happened after the U.S. negotiated the 1997 release of Wei Jingsheng, a Chinese democracy activist who had spent more than 17 years in prison. U.S. officials tried to persuade Voice of America not to air an interview with Wei, fearing it would offend China.”

Gee, and who was the president back then?
The comparisons never cease.
Deja vu all over again.

[nuconvert]

Wonder if we’ll ever find out what Obama offered & gave the Chinese to clear up this embarrassing mess?

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Twitter and its Chinese equivalent, Sina Weibo, have also fueled false rumors about Chen. Some reporters flocked to the Washington airport to meet Chen upon his reported arrival from China, only to find that they'd been misled, the Epoch Times reported.

I love it! I bet that the dopes had questions like "Are you going straight to the White House to thank PRESIDENT! Obama?" "How do you feel about PRESIDENT! Obama?"

.. and some advice for Mr. Chen from the American "news" media "Here's how Americans feel about PRESIDENT! Obama, will you say this please: 'Obama! Obama! Mmmm mmmm mmm.'"

[SoFloFreeper]

Hopefully in some hearings held next year by Senate Majority leader Jim DeMint.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

"Every new form of media has made it harder and harder to conduct secret diplomacy. TV made it harder. Social media made it harder," said Courtney Radsch, senior program manager of the Global Freedom of Expression campaign at Freedom House.

TV made it more difficult for governments? Yes and no. Depends entirely upon whether they share ideology.

Slowly beginning in the 1950s and then overwhelming the "news" media TV networks screwed .. I mean skewed news all day long. "Hey! I resemble that!" Walter "North Viet Nam Communists' most trusted man in America" Cronkite.

Note: No matter the TV networks' skewed news we found ways to get the rest of the story.. it was more difficult back then than today but we did it at times -- like the 1972 election. Then the media got even by going nuts over Watergate without ever explaining what Nixon did that JFK and LBJ didn't do. (LBJ would likely have gone to prison if he had not become president.)

[JimSEA]

Right from the start, Chinese media reported that Chen would have to go back to his home province to apply for a foreign student visa. That is a death sentence for Chen and his family. No wonder he felt betrayed, he was. There is no way the Obama administration will expend political capital for an anti abortionist unless forced by bad publicity. We’ll see how this plays out but I wouldn’t bet on Chen. I hope I’m wrong.

[piasa]

Speaking of Wei Jingsheng (in this old article) ... He says he warned the US about this covid19 business back in 2019.

[piasa]

Today, in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, Michael McMahon, 57, of Mahwah, New Jersey, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay an $11,000 fine for acting as an illegal agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit the same, for his participation in a scheme to coerce repatriation of a U.S. resident to the PRC as part of its international repatriation effort known as “Operation Fox Hunt.” McMahon and co-defendants Zhu Yong, 68, of East Elmhurst, New York, and Congying Zheng, 29, of Brooklyn, were convicted by a federal jury in June 2023 following a three-week trial. In January 2025, Zhu and Zheng were sentenced respectively to 24 months and 16 months in prison.

As proven at trial, between approximately 2016 and 2019, the defendants and their co-conspirators participated in an international campaign to threaten, harass, surveil, and intimidate John Doe #1 and his family in order to force him and his wife, Jane Doe #1, to return to the PRC to face purported corruption charges. Beginning in 2012, John Doe #1 and Jane Doe #1 had been targeted for repatriation as part of the PRC’s transnational repression programs known as “Operation Fox Hunt” and “Operation Sky Net.” John Doe #1 and his family had accordingly sought to keep their address out of public records....