Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States Saturday night, bringing to an end a diplomatic struggle that tested China-U.S. relations.

Chen, his wife and his two children left Beijing late Saturday afternoon and arrived in Newark, N.J., Saturday evening. They passed through Newark Liberty International Airport out of journalists' view before heading to New York City.

A crowd of supporters and journalists greeted Chen and his family outside the Greenwich Village apartment in which they will live. The building is home to graduate students and faculty of New York University, where it is believed Chen will attend law school.

"For the past seven years, I have never had a day's rest," Chen said through a translator. "So I have come here for recuperation in body and spirit."

Chen stood on crutches, his right leg in a cast.

In brief remarks before heading into the apartment, Chen thanked the U.S. and Chinese governments, as well as the Swiss, Canadian and French embassies.

He told the crowd to continue fighting against injustice.

Before he left China, Chen expressed gratitude to his supporters and said he hoped to return.

"I am requesting a leave of absence, and I hope that they will understand," he told The Associated Press.

The self-taught legal activist escaped from house arrest in his village in Shandong province in April, and sought protection from the U.S. embassy in Beijing.

The incident, which occurred just days before U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was set to arrive in Beijing for talks on global security and economics, triggered a diplomatic standoff between the two countries.

After days of negotiations, an agreement was reached where Chen and his family were granted visas to leave China for the U.S., so he could begin his studies at NYU.

Chen told AP he was unhappy about having to leave China and was concerned that his extended family will become targets of the authorities.

Chen is an activist known for his work on behalf of the disabled community and for fighting against forced abortions in his rural village. He was convicted in 2006 -- a conviction his supporters say is based on false charges.

After serving a four-year prison sentence, he was put under house arrest where he faced abuse.

Chen's flight to the U.S is essentially a way for the Chinese government to quickly dispose of the dangerous dissident, said professor of political science Charles Burton.

In an interview with CTV News Channel Saturday, Burton said he was not surprised at the outcome of the diplomatic debacle.

"It defuses the issue for the Chinese government," he said. "Some of Chen's family have been complaining about police harassment and brutality. So I think from the Chinese government's point of view as soon as Mr. Chen leaves China, then the issue is largely defused and the U.S. interest in this as a diplomatic incident more or less ceases."

Chen will likely spend his time in the U.S. giving speeches and writing articles in an effort to raise awareness of human rights abuses in China, said Burton.

The White House said Saturday it was pleased with the outcome of negotiations involving Chen, but China's Foreign Ministry had no comment.

Burton predicts that eventually Chen's impact as an activist will dissipate, something that may have fuelled China's decision to allow Chen to leave the country.

"From the Chinese government's point of view, sending these people abroad solves the problem for them largely," said Burton. "There will be a brief period of his having a lot of high reception, but after a while people will have heard his story and he's no longer relevant."

Burton added that he does not believe that Chen will be permitted to return to China.

"There are all sorts of ways the Chinese government can try and ensure that Mr. Chen does not get to return to China to resume his legal career," he said.

Some of these ways include refusing to re-issue Chen a passport or starting legal proceedings against him so that should he return to the country he will be immediately arrested, said Burton.

They could also simply refuse him entry to the country, as they have done to other dissidents in the past, he said.

Burton stressed that even though the blind activist is no longer living in China, the presence of Chinese authorities in his life is far from over.

Burton believes the dissident will be monitored from abroad by Chinese authorities and his family that remains in China will be subject to harassment, arrest and possible torture.

With files from The Associated Press