Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng offered American fellowship

Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng has been offered a fellowship at an American university and can travel there with his family once he applies for visas, the BBC reports.

New York University's law school announced later on Friday that it had offered the legal activist a visiting scholar position at the university or one of its global sites.

The blind activist was jailed for four years for his work opposing forced abortions and sterilizations and then was placed under house arrest until he absconded to the U.S. Embassy in China last month. He is now under guard at a hospital in Beijing. The Chinese government has said he can apply to study at universities abroad, which could avert a standoff with the United States over the country's treatment of its political critics.

"Progress has been made to help him have the future he wants," Hillary Clinton said at a news conference in Beijing, where she is holding talks with Chinese leaders.

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