An Italian city is to host an art exhibition by a Chinese dissident despite a request from China’s embassy to cancel it, the mayor said in comments published on Friday.
The exhibition by Badiucao, a cartoonist also known as “The Chinese Banksy,” is expected to denounce Chinese political repression and censorship of information on the COVID-19 pandemic.
The show, called “China is (not) near,” is due to run from Nov. 13 to Feb. 13 in the northern Italian city of Brescia, about 100km east of Milan.
Brescia Mayor Emilio Del Bono told Il Foglio newspaper that his office would not comply with a request from the Chinese embassy in Italy to scrap it.
He said the friendship between the Italian and Chinese people “is not in question,” but “I think it is important to show that you can stay friends while criticizing some things.”
Brescia Deputy Mayor Laura Castelletti earlier wrote on Twitter that “for us art and freedom of expression are an essential combination.”
Her message accompanied pictures of newspaper reports about the alleged censorship request from the cultural affairs office of the Chinese embassy in Rome.
Local paper Giornale di Brescia has quoted a letter from the cultural office to the council, in which it complained that Badiucao’s works “are full of anti-Chinese lies.”
It alleged that they “distort facts, spread false information,” mislead the Italian public and “jeopardize friendly relations between China and Italy.”
Badiucao, who lives in Australia, calls himself on social media a “Chinese-Aussie Artist hunted by CCP [Chinese Communist Party].”
He says the event in Brescia would be his first international solo exhibition.
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