THE Global Timesnewspaper in China criticised western governments for demanding the release of disappeared artist Ai Weiwei yesterday.
In an editorial, the newspaper said Ai had been testing the bounds of China's laws and would pay a price. The newspaper, published by the People's Daily, marks the first occasion that state-controlled media have taken up the controversy over Ai, who was stopped on Sunday from boarding a flight from Beijing to Hong Kong and taken away by police.
An outspoken critic of the Communist Party, Ai (53) has not been in contact with his family since Sunday.
Describing the artist as a “maverick”, the editorial stated: “The experience of Ai Weiwei and other mavericks cannot be placed on the same scale as China’s human rights development and progress.”
His detention has prompted widespread condemnation from western governments and Chinese human rights defenders, who see the case as marking a tougher crackdown on freedom of speech.
The editorial makes it clear that Ai will pay the price for his regular criticism of one-party rule.
“Ai Weiwei will be judged by history, but he will pay a price for his special choice, which is the same in any society. China as a whole is progressing and no one has power to make a nation try to adapt to his personal likes and dislikes, which is different from whether rights of the minority are respected.”
Meanwhile, China’s online community has started using a cleverly coded phrase, “Love the Future”, which in Chinese looks and sounds similar to Mr Ai’s name, and posted numerous phrases about “loving the future”.
The internet is tightly controlled by the system of checks known as the Great Firewall of China and these blog entries and postings have been deleted by the authorities.
“Justice doesn’t die; faith is forever. Love the future!” ran one posting on Sina Weibo microblog.
Dissidents and activists have been rounded up recently and detained.
The crackdown comes against a background of “Jasmine Revolutions” ousting regimes in the Middle East and also reflects official nerves ahead of next year’s change of leadership in China.