Ai Weiwei is still missing… Chinese Embassy: Art is thriving in China

The Chinese Embassy in London published an article title ‘Human Right Lecture not needed‘ on China Daily, the country’s official newspaper on 29 April. The article was a response to an article on Daily Telegraph titled ‘China must set Ai Weiwei Free’. In this article, Chinese embassy claimed that Ai Weiwei’s arrest has nothing to do with human right (then what is it?), instead:

The Ai Weiwei case, in essence, is not a human rights matter, nor is it about freedom of speech. Rather it is a question of whether the rule of law should be upheld. All the evidence will be closely examined and the charges arising therefrom will be based on facts and the law, not on suppression of his rights. The judicial system in China allows no violation or interference by others.

The article also mentioned:

Art is thriving in China. One can find art in all its forms and genres in China, from classical to post-modern, from Chinese to Western, from realism to abstract art.

A similar letter was published in the journal Economist, it was written by the Chinese Embassy in London again, in which the author raised the similar argument, but with an angry ending:

Western democracy and human rights issues, there are differences only in the mutual respect and equality, based on the exchange through dialogue to deal with. Those self-righteous, defamation and insults against the Chinese people might ask ourselves, in the end who is engaged in “suppression”? Who confrontation?

It seems like the author mistakes Chinese people as Chinese government, does such a metonym help to scare away the critics: look at the art market created by the ‘Chinese people’. What will the artists and gallery response to such a statement? Maybe they are right, this is really not about human rights, though  about arts and authoritarianism.

What will those galleries which exhibited Ai Weiwei’s work do? For example the Tate Gallery, and the Somerset House, which is now hosting an exhibition by Ai weiwei? The Turner Prize winner Anish Kapoor responded:

“Perhaps all museums and galleries should be closed for a day…some such campaign needs to form itself.

“All he has done…is make it clear that every life matters. Surely that’s the right thing to do.”