Chinese activist arrives in US

Human rights activist Chen Guangcheng arrived in the US on Saturday following a nearly month-long diplomatic conflict between the US and China, The Wall Street Journal reported. Chen was hurried from a hospital hours earlier and put on a plane for New York with his wife and two children. “I am very gratified to see the Chinese government is handling the situation with restraint and calm and I hope to see that continue with open discourse,” Chen said after he arrived. The state-run Xinhua news agency issued a statement saying that Chen “has applied for study in the United States via normal channels in line with the law.” Chen became the center of an international dispute after he escaped 19 months of home arrest shortly before US officials arrived in Beijing for the annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue.