But, ultimately, it was not Obama but Chen who was forced into an impossible position. Though he was safe in the U.S. embassy, his family was not. If he had fled for the U.S., it seems that his wife and child would have suffered for his decision. And though the U.S. could have granted Chen asylum, there is no way they could have physically reached his wife and child, whom police would surely block from the embassy.

In staying, Chen is returning to the same Chinese authority that had initially condemned him to house arrest. Chinese officials are promising him freedom for now. The deal for Chen's release, however, appears to have been struck on the pretext that it would allow the Chinese government to appear benign. Now that Zeng Jinyan has reported what she says is the real story -- and it certainly sounds plausible -- China has lost the most important thing it stood to gain from the deal: saving face. Maybe this is dangerous for Chen because it will make Chinese authorities less willing to hold to their end of the bargain, now that they may feel they've been already been betrayed on the deal. Maybe it will be good for Chen because it broadcasts the apparent truth of his situation, putting the world (and especially Western media, about which China cares very much) on higher alert. But it will certainly put Zeng at risk. She has crossed the Chinese government before; her bravery is admirable precisely because it is dangerous.

Today is not a great day Chen, for China, or for the U.S. The Chinese government feels, per its foreign ministry statement, that it has lost face. This feeling tends to lead China is a less democratic, less cooperative direction. Senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, are scheduled to meet with their Chinese counterparts later this week to discuss the broad scope of U.S-China relations. Those talks will be even more difficult than they would have been otherwise. Domestically, the Obama administration has to accept that it had no good options; that Chen's wife and child lied beyond the boundaries of American power. As for Chen, he is safe and out of house arrest for the moment, but he is also living with the knowledge that police have already threatened to harm his family. That genie can never really go back in its bottle.

It appears that it would not be fair to say that Obama administration failed Chen, as there was simply nothing more they could have done. But they didn't really save him, either.

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