Invisible Man Dominates US-China Talks The blind Chinese lawyer at the center of a diplomatic storm between Washington and Beijing is a taboo topic in each capital. Neither side wants the biggest human-rights issue between the two since Tiananmen Square to disrupt high-level strategic and economic talks set to begin on Thursday. President Barack Obama's administration and China's officials have signaled that the global economy, North Korea, Iran and Sudan - issues in which millions of lives are at stake - have become far more important in U.S.-Chinese relations. Thus, both refuse to admit anything is amiss as a high-profile dissident is believed to be sheltering with U.S. diplomats in China. Officials in both countries consider Chen Guangcheng invisible. "I have nothing for you on anything having to do with that matter," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland responded repeatedly to reporters' questions on the subject on Monday. Although she confirmed that the top U.S. diplomat for Asia, Kurt Campbell, is in Beijing to prepare for the fourth round of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, she refused to say if he was discussing Chen and pointedly refused to even utter his name. In this photo taken in late April, 2012, and released by Zeng Jinyan, blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangcheng is seen at an undisclosed location in Beijing during a meeting with human rights activists Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan. Chen, an inspirational figure in China's rights movement, slipped away from his well-guarded rural village on April 22, 2012, and made it to a secret location in Beijing on Friday, April 27. Activists say Chen is under the protection of U.S. diplomats in Beijing. (AP Photo/Zeng Jinyan) Close Campbell arrived in Beijing early Sunday, at least a day ahead of schedule and, according to activists, is in intensive discussions with the Chinese to resolve the Chen matter before Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner get there. But Nuland said the meetings will go on as planned. "Both sides want to solve this in a low-key manner and they do not want this to dominate other issues in the (strategic and economic) dialogue so that's why they are working hard to find a speedy solution," said Bob Fu of the Texas-based rights group ChinaAid, which was involved in Chen's escape from house arrest last week and his subsequent arrival into the protection of U.S. diplomats in Beijing. Despite the silence, the handling of his case - the most serious U.S.-China rights crisis since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and the most serious overall since an American spy plane was forced to land on China's Hainan Island in 2001 - will have profound ramifications on both sides of the Pacific. Obama's options are limited. Facing a tough fight for re-election in November, he cannot afford to ignore the situation. Doing nothing to help a visually impaired, self-taught lawyer who has fought against forced abortions and corruption in China would open Obama up to attacks from his presumed Republican opponent, Mitt Romney. It would also draw intense criticism from the human rights community in the United States, one of his core constituencies. But at the same time, pressing the issue too hard may prompt a backlash from China, on which the U.S. is increasingly reliant for foreign capital and support as it seeks to lead the global economic recovery, deal with North Korea and Iran's nuclear programs and prevent a potential war between Sudan and South Sudan. The key to resolving the situation may well rest with an aging cadre at the top of China's Communist Party, who could either promise protection for Chen and his family in China or allow him to leave the country, possibly even to Hong Kong or Macao, as they prepare for their own leadership transition later this year.