By Jonathan Broder, CQ Staff

Senior Republican lawmakers said Monday that the case of a blind Chinese lawyer reportedly sheltering with U.S. diplomats in China is a “test” of President Obama’s commitment to human rights.

According to human rights activists, the lawyer, Chen Guangcheng, angered Chinese authorities by defending people in rural Shandong province who objected to China’s practice of forced abortions and sterilization to enforce its one-child policy. In 2005, he was imprisoned for four years and then placed under house arrest until he escaped last week. Activists in China and overseas have said Chen is either under U.S. protection or in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Christopher H. Smith, the New Jersey Republican who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Human Rights subcommittee, called on Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to press Chinese leaders on Chen’s case and other human rights abuses when she begins high-level strategic and economic talks in Beijing on May 3.

Smith said in a statement that the administration’s handling of Chen’s case would be “a test of America’s resolve to safeguard human rights whenever and wherever those rights are violated.”

In an April 27 letter to Clinton, Smith asked her to voice U.S. support during her China visit for a list of demands that Chen has issued on the Internet since his escape. They call on Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to investigate and punish officials who beat Chen and confined him to house arrest and to ensure the safety of his family.

“I would strongly encourage you to reiterate and express our country’s support for these demands to the premier,” Smith wrote.

Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt M. Campbell was in Beijing on Monday to smooth the way for the annual U.S.-China talks, which also will include Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner.

Neither the administration nor Chinese officials have confirmed that Chen is in U.S. custody. Their reticence reflects concerns in both capitals that the human rights drama could overshadow the upcoming talks, which will focus on the global economy, Iran, North Korea and Sudan.

But Republicans suggested that Washington’s choice should be clear.

“The administration should choose human rights as its priority. That’s what we stand for,” Virginia Republican Frank R. Wolf, a senior appropriator and an outspoken voice on human rights issues, said Monday in an interview. Referring to the reports that Chen is sheltering with U.S. diplomats in China, Wolf added: “They have to protect this person. They cannot abandon him. To abandon him would be abandoning the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.”

In the Senate, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, also seized upon Chen’s case to challenge Obama’s commitment to human rights. “Our future relationship with China should be based on exposing the honest differences between us, and not just money and trade,” Graham said in a statement. “There is no better example of the differences we have than the way the Chinese government treats its citizens, like Mr. Chen, who dissent from government policy.”

The remarks come as Republicans, including Gov. Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, try to put a dent in Obama’s high approval ratings for his stewardship of foreign policy.

At a news conference Monday with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Obama deflected several questions about Chen, saying he had read press reports about the activist’s plight.