Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng is reportedly under US protection in Beijing after an audacious escape from 19 months under house arrest, in a drama that threatens to ignite new tensions between the two governments.
The United States has not given any public confirmation of reports that Mr Chen, who slipped away from under the noses of guards and bristling surveillance equipment around his village home in Shandong province, fled into the US embassy.
China has also declined direct public comment on Chen's reported escape, which threatens to overshadow a two-day meeting in Beijing with top Obama administration officials, including US secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
But Texas-based ChinaAid said it "learned from a source close to the Chen Guangcheng situation" that he is under US protection and high level talks are currently under way between US and Chinese officials regarding his status.
"Because of Chen's wide popularity, the Obama Administration must stand firmly with him or risk losing credibility as a defender of freedom and the rule of law," said Bob Fu, president of the religious and political rights advocacy group that has long campaigned for Mr Chen's freedom.
The reports of Chen's escape come nearly three months after a Chinese official Wang Lijun fled into a US consulate for over 24 hours on February 6th, unleashing a scandal that has rattled the ruling Communist Party months before a once-in-a-decade leadership handover.
Mr Wang's brief flight to the US consulate led to the downfall of top official Bo Xilai who had been openly campaigning for a place in the inner circle of power in Beijing.
Pu Zhiqiang, a Beijing lawyer and rights advocate, said reliable contacts also told him Mr Chen took refuge in US embassy grounds. He said the incident will be another damaging blot on China's security services, following Mr Wang's flight.
"Everyone knew about the suffering of Chen Guangcheng and his family but nobody dared raised his head over this and ignored it," he said, referring to Chinese officials.
"Chen Guangcheng has been the most typical victim of this lawless, boundless exercise of power," said Mr Pu. "But the day has finally come when he has escaped from it."
Mr Chen, a self-schooled legal advocate who campaigned against forced abortions, had been held under extra-legal confinement in his village home in Linyi in eastern Shandong province since September 2010 when he was released from jail. His confinement under relentless surveillance with his family fanned protests by Chinese sympathisers and criticism from foreign governments and groups.
Chen's escape could add to the headaches of China's ruling Communist Party, which is striving to ensure stability and authority before a leadership transition later this year.
Washington and other Western governments have criticised Beijing's jailing and confinement of dissidents, protesters and other citizens who challenge Communist Party power. China says such criticism is unwelcome meddling in domestic affairs.
There was no sign of any greater than normal security around the US embassy, a fort-like compound of concrete and steel in northeast Beijing.
If he is sheltering inside, that could thrust Washington back in the midst of a volatile political moment for China, recalling the case of dissident astrophysicist Fang Lizhi. He hid inside the US ambassador's resident with his wife after the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, to Beijing's outrage. Fang settled in the United States and died recently.
Officials in Shandong said today they had no comment on Mr Chen's escape. State media has made no mention of the saga.
Reuters