The top Republican in the House "will host a bipartisan meeting with Chen Guangcheng," including Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress, in the US Capitol followed by a photo opportunity and brief remarks to reporters, Boehner's office said in a statement late Monday.

Chen, the blind activist whose flight to the US embassy in Beijing in April sparked a major diplomatic incident, had been scheduled to testify last week at a US House hearing on human rights conditions in China but declined to appear, apparently out of fear of reprisal against relatives back in China.

Chen was sentenced to more than four years in prison in 2006 after exposing abuses in China's one-child policy, and then placed under house arrest upon his release in September 2010.

The 40-year-old activist's escape from house arrest and his dramatic arrival at the US embassy in Beijing highlighted China's long-criticized human rights record. After high-level emergency negotiations between US and Chinese officials, Chen was allowed to move to the United States.

Boehner, a pro-life conservative, has called China's one-child policy "reprehensible," and in a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Washington in January 2011 he raised the issue and said China's leaders had "a responsibility to do better" with regard to human rights.

"The public's awareness of environmental issues and their rights is increasing at a rapid pace," said an editorial in the People's Daily -- the mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist party.

China should strive to "establish an open and transparent decision-making mechanism, and build a tolerant environment for public opinion", it said.

Authorities in the eastern Chinese city of Qidong agreed Saturday to cancel plans to build a new water pipeline after thousands of local people took to the streets, overturning cars and ransacking government offices.

They were concerned that the pipeline, from a Japanese-owned paper factory, would pollute a nearby fishing port.

China's dependence on manufacturing for economic growth has left the country struggling with a legacy of industrial pollution, and the riots were only the latest in a series of environmental protests.

Last year, a large-scale demonstration in the coastal city of Dalian forced the local government to relocate a chemical factory.

The People's Daily said the growing frustration surrounding pollution from industrial projects provides the country with an opportunity to shift away from low-end manufacturing towards less-polluting industries.

Many of the projects that have been the object of citizen protests had been approved by the local government without sufficient consultation with local residents, it said.

Such high profile protests highlighted the need "to promote interaction between citizens and government" when assessing the environmental impact of proposed industrial projects, the paper added.