US: Activist to Stay in China, Did Not Want Asylum A U.S. official says the blind Chinese activist who sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy did not ask for asylum and is staying in China after receiving assurances that he will be treated as a normal citizen. The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters that Chinese authorities promised that Chen Guangcheng will be relocated to a safe environment where he can study at a university. The U.S. official says that Chen was brought into the U.S. Embassy because after his escape from house arrest in his rural village he was in need of medical care, and that the activist did not request asylum in America. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. BEIJING (AP) - A blind Chinese legal activist who was at the center of a diplomatic tussle between Washington and Beijing left the U.S. Embassy on Wednesday to receive medical care in Beijing and be reunited with this family. Chen Guangcheng's departure from the embassy came shortly after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Beijing for two days of annual strategic talks that are being overshadowed by the self-taught lawyer's fate. There was no immediate indication of whether Chen would remain in China with his family after receiving medical care. This undated photo provided by the China Aid Association shows blind Chinese legal activist Chen Guangchen, left, with his son, Chen Kerui, center, and his wife Yuan Weijing in Shandong province, China. Chen, a well-known dissident who angered authorities in rural China by exposing forced abortions, made a surprise escape from house arrest on April 22, 2012, into what activists say is the protection of U.S. diplomats in Beijing, posing a delicate diplomatic crisis for both governments. (AP Photo/www.ChinaAid.org) Close On his way to the Chaoyang Hospital accompanied by the U.S. ambassador. Chen called his lawyer, Li Jinsong, who said Chen told him: "'I'm free. I've received clear assurances.' Though Li said Chen did not elaborate, the activist had been seeking guarantees of his and his family's safety. The statements were the first official comments by either government on Chen's case since his supporters said last Friday that he had escaped 20 months of house arrest by local authorities at his village in Shandong province, and traveled to Beijing where he went into U.S. government protection. Chen ran afoul of the local government officials for exposing forced abortions and other abuses, and his dogged pursuit of justice and the mistreatment of him by authorities brought him attention from the U.S. and foreign governments and earned him supporters among many ordinary Chinese. His flight into U.S. hands gave Washington and Beijing a delicate human rights crisis at a time when they are trying to shore up shaky relations to deal with the unsteady global economy and trouble-spots from Iran and Syria to North Korea. Clinton's arrival earlier Wednesday upped the stakes for a resolution. Annual talks led by Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and their Chinese counterparts open Thursday and are supposed to focus on trade tensions and security issues. Negotiations over Chen's fate likely considered options including him going to the U.S. or keeping him in China.