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Although Hillary Clinton claims that the exit of pro-life activist Chen Guangcheng from the U.S. embassy “reflected his choices and our values,” it is receiving anything but kudos from Chinese dissidents, who say that the U.S. government failed the blind opponent of China’s coercive “one-child policy.”

Perhaps no other dissident sums up the maltreatment of Chen by the Obama administration than Bei Ling, a Chinese poet who is currently living in exile in the United States.  Bei’s essay on the situation, translated from Chinese by CNN, describes the maltreatment that Chen immediately began to suffer following his abandonment by embassy officials at a Chinese hospital, including the loss of his cell phone and the refusal to feed him and his family until late at night, when a U.S. official requested a meal by telephone.

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“I won’t comment on whether Chen left the U.S. Embassy in Beijing of his own volition. When he’s free, he can address this question himself. There will also be no shortage of evaluation of the U.S. government’s decision, including its conflicting priorities of defending human rights and advancing national interests,” writes Bei, who calls on Hillary Clinton to pay a personal visit to the family to ensure humanitarian treatment.

Bei’s essay in English can be found here.