A museum employee passes an instillationentitled "ForeverBicycles" duringthe “Ai Weiwei, Absent” exhibition by Chinese outspoken artist Ai Weiwei at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011.
TAIPEI(AP).-
Taiwan'spresident urged China on Friday to respect the artistic freedom of outspokenChinese artist Ai Weiwei, who was detained for nearly three months earlier thisyear and is currently confined to Beijing.
“He's anartist and should have the freedom to express his artistic views,"President Ma Ying-jeou said after viewing Ai's exhibition at a Taipei museum."This is also the core value of Taiwan."
Ma saidhe deplored that Chinese police detained Ai at the Beijing airport on April 3as the conceptual artist was about to depart for Taiwan to prepare for theexhibit.
“He's anartist and should have the freedom to express his artistic views,"President Ma Ying-jeou said after viewing Ai's exhibition at a Taipei museum."This is also the core value of Taiwan."
Ma saidhe deplored that Chinese police detained Ai at the Beijing airport on April 3as the conceptual artist was about to depart for Taiwan to prepare for theexhibit.
Thedetention came during a sweeping Chinese crackdown on activists and sparked aninternational outcry over China's deteriorating human rights situation. Ai wasreleased in June but is prohibited from leaving Beijing.
China'sgovernment says Ai was detained on tax evasion charges. However, activists sayhe is being punished for his often outspoken criticism of the authoritariangovernment.
The exhibit at Taipei's Fine Arts Museum,titled "Ai Weiwei, Absent," focuses on the political significance ofthe artist's inability to attend.
Theexhibit of 21 works, which opened last month and runs through late January,includes a white marble-made helmet and a surveillance camera, which Ai createdto mock China as a police state. Another piece consists of 1,000 bicycles piledin layers, reflecting his perception of the rapid pace of Chinese socialchange.
The exhibit in Taiwan has a political significance of its own.Unlike the communist mainland, the island of 23 million people is afreewheeling democracy with few restrictions on expression.
"The distance between Taiwan and China will be determined by theirviews on human rights protection," Ma said. "When our views getcloser, the two sides will move closer."
Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949, but China stillclaims the self-ruled island a part of its own territory. Since Ma took officein 2008, tensions between the two sides have dropped to their lowest point indecades.
Ma has pushed for economic engagement with Beijing, but refusesto have political dialogue.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press
Photos: Wally Santana, AP
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