Thousands of people have donated more than US$500,000 to Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei (艾未未), he said yesterday, in an unusual protest against what they consider an unfair government tax bill that amounts to harassment.
A state-run newspaper criticized the outpouring and warned that it could be illegal.
The donation campaign — in wire transfers, envelopes and even cash sent over his gate as paper airplanes — is rare for Chinese dissidents because of the threat of retaliation that comes with supporting high-profile government critics.
More than 16,000 people have sent about 3.5 million yuan, Ai said, since he announced a week ago that the Beijing tax bureau was demanding that he pay 15 million yuan in back taxes and fines.
“This shows that a group of people who want to express their views are using their money to cast their votes,” Ai said. “It shows that in the Internet age, society will have its own judgment and its own values. People are using these methods to re-examine the accusation that I evaded taxes.”
Ai, an internationally acclaimed conceptual artist, was detained for nearly three months earlier this year amid an overall crackdown on dissent, setting off concern well beyond the arts circles and civil rights community in which he is well-known. The detention and subsequent claims of tax evasion have been interpreted by activists as a way to punish him for his often outspoken criticism of the authoritarian government.
Ai said that he would not treat the money from supporters as donations, but as loans that he would repay. A volunteer at Ai’s Beijing Fake Cultural Development design company said supporters have wired money to a bank account and thrown money over the gate of the studio in envelopes or flown them over in the form of paper airplanes.
One donor, academic Ai -Xiaoming (艾曉明), described her donation as “a form of support as well as an appeal.”
She declined to reveal the size of her contribution.
“Everyone can clearly see how the whole process of accusing Ai Weiwei of tax evasion has not been transparent or fair,” said Ai -Xiaomming, who is based in Guangzhou.
Ai Weiwei has demanded that police return the account books they seized from his studio when they detained him and that they allow him to meet with his former office manager and accountant.
Calls to the local tax bureau rang unanswered. In a commentary yesterday, the state-run Global Times cited unnamed experts as saying Ai Weiwei could be suspected of “illegal fundraising.” It also said the movement did not represent the larger Chinese population.
“It is absolutely normal for a certain number of people to show their support for him with donations. But these people are an extremely small number when compared with China’s total population,” said the commentary, which was published in both the newspaper’s Chinese and English editions. “Ai’s political preference along with his supporters’ cannot stand for the mainstream public, which is opposed to radical and confrontational political stances.”
The newspaper also asked if Ai Weiwei really needed to borrow money to pay off the tax bill. The internationally known artist has shown his work in London, New York and Berlin and has earned huge sums selling his work at auctions and through galleries.
“Yes, I am very wealthy, but this is a separate issue,” Ai said of the newspaper’s criticism. “I have said that I will repay every cent of the loans. One person’s innocence is tied together to a country’s innocence. I’m not doing this to profit myself.”
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS