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China Analysis
With blind Chinese lawyer Chen Guangcheng now said to be under US protection in Beijing, all eyes are on the US government as to what's going to happen next.
There are already calls for President Barack Obama to protect Chen, and take a stand for human rights.
The conventional wisdom about bringing up prominent human rights cases is that it will embarrass the Chinese leadership and make it harder for US-China relations.
But NTD Senior China Analyst Zhang Tianliang says Chen's case is different. He says that if Obama brings up human rights, it will actually help Chinese leaders—and the US as well.
That is, by bringing up Chen's case, Obama could help Chinese leaders Wen Jiabao and Hu Jintao bring down a powerful political enemy—the regime's security chief, Zhou Yongkang. Zhou is implicated in numerous cases of abuse of Chinese citizens, including Chen Guangcheng.
[Zhang Tianliang, NTD Senior China Analyst]
"Also I think Obama may not understand, that in China now, the Chinese government is not united, basically split. And I think that Wen Jiabao and Hu Jintao have the intention to remove Zhou Yongkang from the Standing Committee of the Politburo."
Zhou is also the head the Political and Legislative Affairs Committee, or the PLAC. It's an agency within the Party that controls both the police and the court system. The PLAC orchestrates the suppression of dissidents and activists, including Chen Guangcheng.
Wen Jiabao and Hu Jintao are currently locked in a power battle against Zhou and his political allies. They've already taken down Zhou's main protégé, Chongqing's former Communist Party Chief Bo Xilai, and are poised to bring down Zhou too.
Zhang Tianliang says if Obama takes a strong stance for Chen Guangcheng now, he'll actually be doing Wen and Hu a favor.
