For China, a Dissident in Exile Is One Less Headache Back Home

By ANDREW JACOBS, NYT

After more than a week of high-level diplomacy over the fate of the blind activist Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese government was widely seen as making a major concession on Friday by agreeing to allow Mr. Chen to apply to leave for the United States.

The bigger concession would have been allowing him to stay.

Based on past experience, China is often all too pleased to see its most nettlesome dissidents go into exile, where they almost invariably lose their ability to grab headlines in the West and to command widespread sympathy both in China and abroad.

“The Chinese will be happy to get their No. 1 troublemaker out of their hair,” said Bob Fu, the president of ChinaAid, a Christian advocacy group in Texas that was instrumental in drawing attention to Mr. Chen’s cause.

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