Home >> China >> China and the World

THE family of Chinese rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who has been tipped for a Nobel Peace Prize and disappeared weeks ago, has defected to the US.

The wife and two children of Gao - who said he was tortured after drawing international attention to China's rights abuses - sneaked out by foot into Thailand and arrived in the US on Wednesday, rights groups said. “It was extraordinarily difficult to get us out of China. The friends who helped us escape took enormous pains, some even risking their own lives,” Gao's wife, Geng He, told Radio Free Asia's Mandarin service. The defection came during a visit to Washington by Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who has warned President Barack Obama's administration to “stop meddling” in Beijing's affairs over human rights. Gao, once a prominent lawyer and Communist Party member, has been an outspoken defender of people seeking redress from the Government including coal miners, underground Christians and t...

>> Full Article

Previous: US warships head for South China Sea after standoff