Family members of Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese activist who escaped house arrest last year, have been granted passports in an apparent goodwill gesture by Beijing on the eve of a summit between US President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
Chen Guangfu, eldest brother of Chen Guangcheng, said he and his mother, Wang Jinxiang, received passports on Friday and planned to apply for visas to visit the US.
Chen Guangcheng, a self-trained lawyer who campaigned against forced abortions, fled house arrest last year and was smuggled into the US embassy, triggering a diplomatic crisis that was resolved when Chinese officials let him move to the US with his wife and children.