By The Diplomat
The detention of Ai Weiwei is part of a broader strategy, says Kelley Currie. With international criticism muted, expect more of the same.
Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei was detained Sunday at Beijing airport. He’s been a thorn in the side of the authorities for a while, so why would he have been arrested now?
This is part of a broader crackdown, and I think it’s the typical ‘kill the chicken to scare the monkey’ tactic that the Chinese government uses. They are rounding up lots of prominent people who previously had been harassed, but hadn’t been taken into custody. Or some had been briefly detained, but then quickly let go. So this is part of a broader trend.
So is Ai’s detention likely to be one of these detain and release scenarios or do you think the authorities might be planning to press charges?
As you say, they’ve had their eye on him for a while. But I think that the co-ordinated raid on his studio, the detention of his assistant, the seizure of equipment – this looks like part of a serious investigation. And I think there are some very worrying signs about the way he was taken into custody and about what has happened since. The fact that he hasn’t been allowed to contact his family and that his lawyer hasn’t been allowed to see him all point to a secretive investigation that’s very serious.
You mention this is part of broader crackdown. Is it connected to worries about the kind of unrest seen in the Arab world spreading to China, or does this crackdown predate that?
Certainly there has been a surge in detentions over the past two months, since the call went out for a ‘Jasmine Revolution’ in China. There has been a massive uptick in the number of detentions of lawyers, bloggers, and dissidents and particularly with some prominent cases such as Ai Weiwei.
But I think going back further, although it has been more intense in the past two months, I think it has been part of a broader crackdown that started in the period before the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, which was then followed by a post-Olympics tightening – which included the detention of Liu Xiaobo. When someone speaks out calling for political reform that they feel threatens one-party rule, such as with Charter 08, the authorities tend to freak out and clamp down. So in late 2008, when Charter 08 was published, there was a surge in detentions. And since Liu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, there’s been another surge in detentions.
So in some sense, these things are event driven in terms of the detention of certain groups of people. But they are also part of a continuum, with the Communist Party unable to manage dissent in a way that isn’t coercive. It’s part of a continuum of the Party’s insecurity on a certain level about its domestic legitimacy. There’s an absolute obsession with stability within the Party, and it sees the detention of people like Liu Xiaobo and Ai Weiwei as critical to maintaining its vision of stability.
Photo Credit: Christophe Meneboeuf
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Arthur Borges
The 2010 PEW Global Attitudes Survey reports that 87% of Chinese are satisfied with “the way things are going” in their country; contrast that with 30% of Americans, 21% of South Koreans and 20% of Japanese.
Moreover, 38% of Turks, 45% of Indians and 50% of Brazilians are satisfied too.
Perhaps the USG should pay more attention to its own dissatisfied 70% than to China’s dissatisfied 13%?
Source: http://pewglobal.org/database/?indicator=3&group=11
Johnny
@Borgus The important difference here is that the Chinese people can’t openly express their voice as they might get labeled ’state enemies’ and be apprehended/executed etc. Remember this article is titled ‘Why China is cracking down’ for a reason, so please post something that makes sense. Statistics without focus and background is nothing but junk.
Leonard R.
I do not care what China does to its own citizens.
It is none of my business.
I care about what China is doing to American citizens.
The US government should mind its own business and do what it is paid to do —
protect the United States.
John Chan
What a sensible thing to say, I am going to check and make sure the sun didn’t rise from the west.
Frank
Are the words “Blue Moon” moment banned here?
Leonard R. has a blue moon moment.
Simon
As a overseas chinese, i think the communist government Suxs big time. there are so many cases of abuse of power, it sickens me just to look at those dumb idiots.
Nathan
Ai Weiwei is nothing more than a willing Western puppet! With all that’s going on in China and the world right now, I seriously think a arrogant, eccentric so call artist is more important than innocent civilians being killed in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Bahrain! This is nothing more than propaganda by the Western media and government to demonize China while at the same time distracting everyone from the human-rights crimes being committed by West/NATO right now! I feel so sorry for the people that can’t see this deception!!!
Ace
Thank you. Here are your 50 cents!
Oro Invictus
@Nathan
I think the best way to respond to your nationalistic, xenophobic, and self-condemning tirade is a point system, so that’s how I will proceed:
1) Oh, yes, the nebulous “West” is at work again, engaging in nefarious deeds… I must say, I love this tired PRC name for anyone even associated remotely with free speech, as it suggests the “East” is opposed to this “West”, when it is often the countries in China’s own backyard (Russia, Mongolia, Tibet, India, Vietnam Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, etc.) which actually often issue forth the most condemning statements against the PRC government. I guess it could make sense if Earth was a Mobius Strip; oh, but wait, I forgot, obviously anyone who disagrees with the PRC is a “Western puppet”, even though a fair number of them also seem to level alot of complaints against the “West”.
2) Don’t you find it a bit hypocritical how you’re condemning outside nations’ “demonization” of the PRC (AKA reporting what the PRC is actually doing) when the PRC government (and its mouthpieces, which you fall into) are constantly verbally attacking said nations in such a way that one might consider “demonizing?”.
3) Ah yes, we are being deceived, unlike the people of China who basically aren’t allowed to see anything for themselves that the PRC hasn’t filtered; you know, like how the PRC loves to focus on NATO’s actions in the Middle East yet totally ignores the reason why the people are being killed is because they refused to be ruled by oppressive, nepotist, autocratic systems almost exactly like what China has in place?
4) Now, this one is the most important, so read carefully: Are you actually trying to defend the PRC kidnapping and torturing it’s own citizens!? How does that work? How can you justify this sort of thing when it is almost universally agreed across the world such acts are inexcusable? Don’t say it’s for the greater good, because the only people it benefits are the PRC leaders. It’s actually ironic really: The PRC wants to create an innovative, dynamic country it can control and use for its own ends, yet fails to understand by disallowing free speech and individual ideas, it will cripple itself by creating a group of oppressed people so afraid of creativity and innovation due to the possible legal consequences it would bring that it can’t adapt to the coming years. Innovation and freedom of expression go hand in hand; why do you think the PRC only won one Nobel Prize last year? I’ll give you a hint: It’s the same reason why the winner is currently languishing in captivity right now.
Johnny
@Nathan If weiwei was an ‘western agent’ then why CCP let him design the olympic stadium?
We can see where human right is abolished. China gives no freedom or human rights to its citizen. Even Weiwei’s detention is illegal and CCP operated like mafia when it kidnapped him.
I feel sorry for you as you clearly read Xinhua for world news.
@Leonard R. We ofcourse care about the people of China. If we don’t help them to overthrow this dictatorial regime then who will? You can achieve that by either war and defeating them or by simply by removing warmongers. People of China are waking up and are trying to topple the dictators. We need to support their efforts to establish a responsible and humane govt. We stand for democracy and freedom remember that… War is the last and the worst option.