Kerry Just Leaves a Voicemail for Chinese About Chen’s Family’s Plight

International   |   Wesley J. Smith   |   May 5, 2013   |   11:58AM   |   Beijing, China

Oh good grief. It appears that the Chinese tyranny is allowing the nephew of anti-forced abortion human rights activist Chen Guangcheng to die of appendicitis. And Secretary of State John Kerry calls, but just can’t get through? From the official State Department transcript of a press briefing:

QUESTION: You suggested during the briefing yesterday–or you said that you believed that the Secretary was going to call the Chinese leadership to raise the case of Chen Guangcheng’s nephew.

MR. VENTRELL: Chen Kegui.

QUESTION: Chen Kegui. Thank you again. Did he make such a call? And if so, to whom and when, and what did he say?

MR. VENTRELL: The Secretary did reach out to his counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang, yesterday. He was unable to reach him and the Secretary will follow up. So he has placed a call and has not yet been able to connect with the Foreign Minister, who we understand is on travel.

QUESTION: Do you know if he attempted to reach him after you announced from the podium that he was going to call?

MR. VENTRELL: No, we discussed in the morning that he was going to make the call during the day.

QUESTION: Well–right, I know. But was it–did he try to do it after you had said that he was going to?

CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!

 

MR. VENTRELL: Matt, I don’t know at exactly what hour the –

QUESTION: I’m just curious if you think that the Chinese Foreign Minister might have been ducking the phone call because he knew that he was going to get yelled at about this.

MR. VENTRELL: I don’t know at what time the Operations Center was putting forward the call, but the Secretary did reach out to the Chinese and will follow up.

So let me get this straight: Wang forwarded his calls to voice mail and Secretary Kerry left a message? Talk about no respect, as in the Chinese apparently have none for, the Chens, the USA, or this administration. If the nephew’s appendix bursts and he dies, what then?

LifeNews.com Note: Wesley J. Smith, J.D., is a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture and a bioethics attorney who blogs at Secondhand Smoke.