(CNN) BEIJING — China said Friday that the Chinese activist at the center of a diplomatic storm has the right to apply to study abroad after he told U.S. lawmakers that he wants to leave his homeland for the United States.
If Chen Guangcheng wants to go overseas to study, “as a Chinese citizen, he may apply like other Chinese citizens according to the laws and normal procedures of the relevant departments,” Liu Weimin, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website.