(CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated Washington's position on a wide array of subjects during an interview Tuesday with CNN in New Delhi.

Clinton spoke about Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese activist at the center of a recent diplomatic storm between the United States and China.

Chen was sentenced in 2006 to four years and three months in prison for "damaging property and organizing a mob to disturb traffic," charges that his supporters maintain were trumped up by the authorities to punish his legal advocacy for victims of what he called abusive family-planning policies, including forced abortions and sterilization.

Recently, Chen has said he wants to come to the United States.

He has been in a hospital bed in Beijing, where he is undergoing medical examinations and treatment after escaping more than 18 months of house arrest in eastern China some two weeks ago.

"We're looking forward to welcoming him to the United States," Clinton said in New Delhi. "We remain in close contact with him. We know that Chinese officials have visited him in the hospital. ... We're doing the same in order to prepare the way so that he can come here and pursue his studies."

CNN