As Support Grows for the Missing Ai Weiwei, State-Run Chinese Newspaper Issues ‘Ominous Editorial’

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Despite more calls for his release from countries across the world, which now include the US and the UK, and even more newspaper, magazine and online editorials demanding the same, artist Ai Weiwei still hasn’t been heard from since his arrest and detainment on Sunday as he attempted to leave his native China. However, as the Telegraph reports, the state-run Global Times issued “an ominous editorial” yesterday, saying in part:

“Ai Weiwei […] has been close to the red line of Chinese law. As long as Ai Weiwei continuously marches forward, he will inevitably touch the red line one day,” the newspaper wrote. “Ai Weiwei will be judged by history, but he will pay a price for his special choice,” it added.

While certainly not a positive development in the slightest, the attention this detainment has received has grown dramatically, which one believes might benefit the artist in the end (Art Info has said that he “may at this moment be the most famous artist in the world” and have filed this great report on how he got there) Closer to home, in New York, the city has said it will move forward on the public art project it commissioned from Weiwei that will “occupy the Pulitzer Fountain outside the Plaza Hotel” and is set to be finished next month. And in China, people are managing to get around Chinese sensors online to voice their support by writing “Love the Future” instead of “Ai Weiei,” as they both look and sound very similar when written in Chinese characters.

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