China has granted passports to the mother and eldest brother of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng which they hope to use to visit him in the United States, the brother said in Friday, a concession by Beijing ahead of a Sino-US summit.
The treatment of Chen Guangcheng's family has received prominent attention from the US, especially as Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama meet this week in California.
Family members have been harassed, and at times beaten, by unidentified men since Chen dramatically escaped house arrest last year and fled to the US embassy in Beijing, before being allowed to go to New York to study.
Chen Guangcheng is a self-schooled legal advocate who campaigned against forced abortions.
He was jailed for four years on charges that he and his supporters said were spurious, and held in his village home for 19 months after being released.
Eldest brother Chen Guangfu said a passport application for him and his mother had unexpectedly been approved, after months of obfuscation by local officials.