Dissident Weiwei

THE exceptionally brave act by the Chinese artist, designer and dissident Ai Weiwei of writing a critical article about China today for the American newsmagazine Newsweek will pose a serious difficulty for the Chinese government. After his recent release from 81-day detention, much of it in solitary confinement, Ai Weiwei was told he could not give interviews to journalists, meet foreigners or use Twitter. Strictly speaking he has done none of those things but by writing his own article and giving it to an international newsmagazine has ensured that his words reach a huge audience.

The article is severely critical of everyday Chinese society, including a judicial system that cannot be trusted, and gives an unsettling insight into the cruel treatment inflicted on dissidents and their families, saying that “You truly believe they can do anything to you. There's no way to even question it.” The 54-year-old Ai Weiwei is currently China's most high-profile dissident and having already been arrested and interrogated more than fifty times on a trumped-up tax offence he has now challenged the authorities to do their worst. He refuses offers of conditional deportation. China is not an easy country to govern and the general introduction of Western standards of human rights would risk its stability. But there must be other ways of handling dissidents than routinely incarcerating them.