EU cautions China over activist
The US is remaining silent over claims that Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng is at its Beijing embassy, three days after he escaped from house arrest.
China and the US are thought to be in negotiations over his fate, but there has been no official confirmation.
Mr Chen's escape comes days before US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due in Beijing for strategic talks.
Meanwhile, a US-based pressure group says a decision on his fate will be reached soon by Chinese leaders.
"The Chinese top leaders are deliberating a decision to be made very soon, maybe in the next 24 to 48 hours," Bob Fu of the Texas-based China Aid group told AFP news agency.
The group has been one of the main sources of information about Mr Chen's escape.
US state department official Kurt Campbell is in the Chinese capital on an unscheduled visit.
He was photographed at a hotel, but in an indication of just how sensitive the issue is, the US embassy will not even confirm he is there, the BBC's Micky Bristow in Beijing says.
Mr Campbell is thought to be in discussions with the Chinese authorities about what to do with the blind activist, our correspondent says.
Analysts say the issue will be highly sensitive for both sides, and not easy to resolve.
The Americans have repeatedly raised Mr Chen's case with China on human rights grounds. But Mrs Clinton has also said human rights shouldn't get in the way of working with China on global challenges.
However, her impending trip to Beijing on Wednesday is likely to be overshadowed by the activist's fate.
'Virtual house arrest'There is also concern over the fate of Mr Chen's relatives and associates after reports that the authorities had begun to round up those close to him.
Chen Guangcheng
- Born 12 Nov 1971
- Nickname: The Barefoot Lawyer
- Went blind as a child
- Campaigned for women forced to have abortions or sterilisation under China's one child per family policy
- Jailed for four years in 2006 for disrupting traffic and damaging property
- Released from jail in 2010 placed under house arrest
- Daughter barred from school during much of 2011, reports say
- Escapes house arrest, April 2012
Several people involved in Mr Chen's escape have been detained or have disappeared in recent days, and fellow activist Hu Jia has been questioned.
Mr Chen has long been a high-profile figure and international rights groups have frequently expressed alarm at the treatment of him and his family.
Mr Chen was placed under virtual house arrest in 2010 after spending more than four years in jail for disrupting traffic and damaging property.
He had exposed how local authorities in Linyi, Shandong province, forced thousands of women to have abortions or be sterilised as part of China's one-child policy.
His colleagues said last Sunday's escape had taken months to plan, and was carried out with the help of a network of friends and activists.
He scaled the wall that the authorities had built around his house, and was driven hundreds of miles to Beijing, where activists say he stayed in safe houses before fleeing to the embassy.
If Mr Chen is in the embassy, his case will raise memories of an incident in 1989 when another prominent activist, Fang Lizhi, fled to the US mission in Beijing.
He remained there for more than a year while the two sides attempted to broker a deal.
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