CHINA SAID yesterday that the country’s best-known artist, Ai Weiwei, had been detained on economic charges and warned the international community against trying to interfere in the case.
Ai, a controversial and internationally famous avant-garde artist whose work involves strong activist elements, is an outspoken critic of the Communist Party. He was detained at Beijing airport on Sunday as he tried to board a flight. “The public security authorities are conducting an investigation according to law. China is a country under the rule of law and relevant authorities will work according to law,” said foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei.
“It has nothing to do with human rights or freedom of expression. Other countries have no right to interfere.”
Ai’s wife, Lu Qing, has still not been told of her husband’s fate or whereabouts. His sister Gao Ge said the charges were “absurd”.
Ai was involved in designing the Bird’s Nest stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and recently exhibited at the Tate Modern in London. Chinese authorities sometimes use white-collar crimes or other non-political charges to silence their critics.
Chen Guangcheng, the blind barefoot lawyer recently released from jail but put under house arrest, was originally convicted on traffic offences. Zhao Yan, a news assistant for the New York Times, was jailed for three years in 2007 on charges of financial fraud.
There has been a crackdown on dissent in recent weeks, against a backdrop of “jasmine revolutions” ousting regimes in the Middle East. This also reflects official nerves ahead of next year’s change of leadership in China.