News / January 30, 2019

Ai Weiwei Speaks Out in Response to Canada-China Tensions

As he prepares for an exhibition at Toronto’s Gardiner Museum, Ai Weiwei issues a statement about the Chinese government’s recent actions

A 2010 portrait of Ai Weiwei. The scar is from treatment of a brain hemorrhage sustained after a beating by Chinese police. Photo: © Gao Yuan.

Internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei spoke out today in response to increasing political tensions between China and Canada. The dissident Chinese artist is currently preparing for an exhibition opening February 28 at Toronto’s Gardiner Museum. The museum circulated the statement via email this afternoon.

In recent weeks, Canadian authorities arrested Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver. The purpose of the arrest was to extradite Wanzhou to the U.S. to face financial fraud charges. (The extradition has not yet happened.) Following Wanzhou’s arrest in Vancouver, China detained at least two Canadian citizens for possibly endangering state security. (The situation has also led to domestic upset in Canada, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking Ambassador to China John McCallum to step down last week after McCallum repeatedly expressed hope the U.S. would drop its extradition request.)

“The Chinese government’s recent actions are unsurprising,” said Ai Weiwei in today’s statement. “Domestically, the disappearances and forced detentions without due process are common. I would be surprised if that was not the case every time considering China does not have an independent judicial system. There are no clear laws, only interpretations of law based on the Party’s interests.”

“While China has become an ever more powerful machine, it still has not changed its authoritarian tendencies,” says Ai Weiwei.

In his statement, Ai Weiwei notes that the West has largely benefited from China’s economic rise—and ignored many of its labour, environmental and human rights violations. (Weiwei himself was arrested by Chinese authorities in April 2011 and held for 81 days without outside contact. He was also beaten by police in 2009, sustaining multiple injuries.)

“The West has pretended not to notice [basic rights violations in China] or, more insidiously, has been a willing partner,” Ai Weiwei said. “They are the hidden force behind China’s rise. And while China has become an ever more powerful machine, it still has not changed its authoritarian tendencies.”

Ai Weiwei criticized Western forces for believing that economic wealth would gradually bring democracy to China.

“Dictators have never relinquished power or control,” Ai Weiwei states. “Change has always come abruptly, either through revolution or another equally disastrous event. There is no precedence for this kind of gradual shift and the West understand this well.”

In short, Ai Weiwei, in his statement today, encouraged Western states to examine their own complicity in the way China has acted politically and diplomatically, both at present and in the past.

“In the end, nothing will change,” Ai Weiwei concludes. “China completely ignores so-called universal values. It is under the control of a one-party system where its citizens have never had the right to vote. And without voting rights, there is no responsibility or trust in society. There is no independent press or media. What can you expect? I think that China has done quite well under those circumstances. The real problem comes from the West where there is a completely lack of vision and responsibility, only an interest in profiting from the status quo.”

The exhibition “Ai Weiwei: Unbroken” will run at the Gardiner Museum from February 28 to June 9, 2019. The museum specializes in ceramic arts. The show includes the debut of a large-scale LEGO zodiac, as well as some of Ai Weiwei’s iconic ceramic works addressing Chinese identity.