China Slams Concern Over Artist

In its first response to Western calls for the release of detained prominent artist and social critic Ai Weiwei, China's government said Wednesday that his actions were "ambiguous" in law, and close to a "red line."

"Ai Weiwei likes to do something others dare not do. He has been close to the red line of Chinese law," the official English-language Global Times newspaper said in an editorial, three days after he was believed to have been taken into custody by authorities at Beijing airport.

Beijing-based rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang said Ai's disappearance had lasted longer than stipulated in Chinese procedural regulations, however.

"The authorities should inform the relatives of the person detained within 24 hours of the place where they are being held and the crimes they are suspected of," Pu said.

"It has now been more than two days and we have heard no news at all. This is in conflict with existing regulations."

Ai's mother Gao Ying confirmed on Wednesday that the family had still heard no news of the artist from the authorities.

"We are still in suspense," Gao said. "They have taken my son away without so much as a summons notice."

"There is nothing we can do about it."

She said the family had issued a missing person notice. "We want everyone to help us find my son," Gao said. "We didn't think there would be this much reaction."

Western criticism

Meanwhile, the Global Times said the law would not concede to 'mavericks' just because of Western media criticism.

It slammed recent calls for Ai's release and criticism of China's human rights record.

"Some Western governments and human rights institutions soon called for the immediate release of Ai Weiwei, claiming it to be China's 'human rights deterioration' while regarding Ai Weiwei as 'China's human rights fighter'," the paper said.

It said the criticisms were a "reckless collision" with China's existing political system.

"The West's behavior aims at disrupting the attention of Chinese society and attempts to modify the value system of the Chinese people," it said.

It did not confirm Ai's detention, but said that he had tried to travel to Taiwan via Hong Kong on Friday, citing reports that his departure procedures were "incomplete."

But it warned Ai would "pay a price for his special choice."

"No one has power to make a nation try to adapt to his personal likes and dislikes," the editorial said.

'Very hard to say'

Pu said it was unclear precisely which of Ai's activities had sparked his detention.

"Ai Weiwe i... is personally very influential," Pu said. "He concerns himself with a lot of hot topics, and he himself is a hot topic."

"It's very hard to say [what will happen now]."

Ai Xiaoming, literature professor at Guangzhou's Zhongshan University, said the government was sending a signal with Ai's detention that any criticism or dissent wouldn't be tolerated.

"Put simply, this means that what the government says, goes," she said. "There is no participation for its citizens."

Asked if Ai's detention was the result of internal Communist Party politics, Pu said that while Ai himself had little interest in the politics of the ruling party, he could have been "sacrificed" as part of an internal power struggle between reformist factions and the Marxist conservatives.

"The desire not to hear any dissenting voices is increasingly becoming a key unifying factor in the Party," Pu said.

"Ai's is the sort of personality that likes to make waves in its self-expression, and maybe some people are now thinking he isn't worth protecting."

Fan base

Ai Xiaoming said China's leaders would have a huge Ai Weiwei fan base to face up to, should the dissident be jailed. The artist has more than 75,000 followers on Twitter, and is frequently supported in public by fans and admirers.

"Ai Weiwei is hugely influential, and he has a huge audience and readership," Ai Xiaoming said. "I am waiting to see what happens."

"They are going to have to face so many people who are his fans, his young readers and audience."

Chinese netizens braved official censorship to launch a campaign on Monday in support of Ai.

Ai, 57, is a top artist who helped design Beijing's Bird's Nest Stadium for the 2008 Olympics, and is currently exhibiting his "Sunflower Seeds" installation at London's Tate Modern gallery.

An inveterate Twitter user, Ai has taken part in a number of campaigns to protect the most vulnerable in Chinese society, including an online memorial installation which recorded the names of thousands of children killed in the collapse of school buildings during the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

Reported by Tang Qiwei for RFA's Mandarin service and by Grace Kei Lai-see for the Cantonese service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.