Biden: US ready to give Chen visa 'right away'

The United States will grant Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng a visa ''right away'' when he applies, Vice President Joe Biden said. US officials "expect the Chinese to stick to that commitment" for him to study in the US, Mr Biden said in a television interview on Sunday.

Mr Chen said he expected Beijing to allow him and his family to go to the US, but did not know when it could be. He has been offered a fellowship by New York University (NYU). ''I can't move around much but I'm feeling better," he told Reuters news agency over the phone from a hospital in Beijing. The blind activist has been at the hospital for treatment since leaving the US embassy last week. "The (Chinese) government openly promised to respect my rights as a citizen, and I expect them to live up to that promise," he added. 'No way' Mr Chen fled house arrest last month and spent six days in the US embassy. The 40-year-old has campaigned against forced abortions and sterilisations of women under China's one-child policy. Continue reading the main story Chen Guangcheng Born 12 Nov 1971 Nicknamed the "Barefoot Lawyer" Went blind as a child Campaigned for women forced to have abortions or sterilisation under China's one child per family policy Jailed for four years in 2006 for disrupting traffic and damaging property Released from jail in 2010 and placed under house arrest Daughter barred from school during much of 2011, reports say Escapes house arrest, April 2012 Extracts from BBC interview Profile: Chen Guangcheng He left the embassy on Wednesday after accepting China's assurances of his safety. He later said that in view of the threats against his family, he had decided to leave the country. On Sunday, he said that he had asked Chinese officials for help with the process of applying for the US visa. "It's even difficult for me to get out of bed and my other friends cannot come, so I have no way. They (US diplomats) have come, but they can't see me,'' he told AFP news agency over the phone. Mr Biden also said that he believed Mr Chen's future was in the US, during the interview on NBC television's Meet The Press broadcast on Sunday. Smear campaign Mr Chen's case overshadowed high-level US-China talks that took place in Beijing last week. On Friday, China said that if the activist wanted to study overseas, he could "process relevant procedures with relevant departments through normal channels in accordance with the law" - a move seen as paving the way for a resolution to the diplomatic crisis. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - in Beijing for the annual talks - said she was "encouraged" by the Chinese statement. "Progress has been made to help him have the future he wants," she told a news conference in Beijing. China had earlier demanded an apology from the US for sheltering Mr Chen in its embassy. This was reiterated in a commentary published in China Daily, accusing the US of violating international and Chinese laws and interfering in ''China's internal affairs''. However, the writer also stressed that ''healthy ties'' between the two countries ''will not be held hostage by a single incident''. A Global Times article by a ''blogger and grassroots intellectual'' accused the US of using Mr Chen as ''a pawn in its plot against China''. The writer also alleged that Mr Chen had monopolised water supply in his hometown of Dongshigu village in Shandong province. Rights activist He Peirong (also known as Pearl Her), who had driven Mr Chen to Beijing during his escape, responded to the allegations on Twitter, saying they were part of a smear campaign directed at him.