PORTSMOUTH, Va. (AP) — Mitt Romney has criticized the Obama administration for allowing a blind Chinese dissident to leave the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
Campaigning in Virginia, the Republican presidential candidate said reports that American officials allowed Chen Guangcheng (chehn gwahng-chung) to leave the embassy represented a "dark day for freedom." And a "day of shame for the Obama administration."
Chen took refuge at the embassy after escaping house arrest. He rejected a deal that was supposed to keep him safely in China and now says he wants to leave the country. Chen has told media outlets he feels abandoned by the U.S. American officials said they had not pressured him to leave U.S. protection.
Romney says the U.S. should be a "place of freedom." He suggested the administration abandoned Chen for political reasons.
