I was looking into follow up articles about what is going on with Ai WeiWei currently since I know he was arrested by the Chinese government. One article in particular caught my attention it was titled “China Baffled by Support for Imprisoned Activist Ai Weiwei.” I was very interested to read it because it seemed like it was going to be an article where the government was going to explain their actions.
The article says that the Chinese government is unhappy with all the support worldwide being shown for Ai WeiWei. Many organizations have called on the Chinese government to release him because he is only exercising his right to freedom of expression. But, Hong Lei the spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry says, “Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is a suspected criminal and foreign support for him has confused and angered the Chinese people.” He went on to say, “Chinese people are baffled by the outcry from Washington and other Western governments after Ai's arrest nine days ago. And he questioned why some people in some countries treat a crime suspect as a hero, adding that the Chinese people are unhappy about international support for the outspoken government critic.” This really shocked me that the government does not think they are doing anything wrong at all by silencing the voices in their country that are speaking out. I am surprised that the Chinese government doesn’t think this is a human rights situation. Hong dismissed the U.S. report on human rights that criticized China and said, “United States should address its own human rights record and is urging other countries not to interfere in China's internal affairs.” The Article says that many Chinese leaders believe that the support for Ai WeiWei and other imprisoned Chinese like Novel Peace Prize winner Lui Xiaobo are just a way for America and other Western governments to try and collapse the Communist Party. The article also mentions that Ai WeiWei is diabetic and may not be getting adequate care since his whereabouts are unknown.
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