Ai Weiwei calls on western governments to tackle China on human rights at any cost

By Lobsang Tenchoe

DHARAMSALA, NOV 3: Highlighting Chinese government’s grave repression against activists, Ai Weiwei, China’s prominent activist, has called on western governments to stand up for their principles and challenge China on human rights.

The activist stated that China’s business partners in the rest of the world should tackle China on human rights at any cost without worrying about making it worse for the Chinese activists, reports theguardian.com Nov 3.

“It doesn’t matter it will hurt me or not, you have to do what you think is right, in New York. You have to believe they have to listen. You know, they have to care about their business partner … or they have to respect,” the report quoted Ai Wiwei as saying during an event at the Council on Foreign Relations.

The statement by the Chinese dissident Ai, one of the world’s most famous artist, follows a similar statement made by the Tibetan political leader, Sikyong Lobsang Sangay in an interview with Halda Yakim of BBC on Nov 1.

“Although the UK constitution, European constitution and other countries around the world talk about democracy, human rights and values all the time, but when it comes to practicing those values, they shy away from meeting His Holiness the Dalai Lama. That’s an unfortunate commentary as to the status of that country and the very principles on which those countries have built their own country and constitution,” Sikyong Sangay said in the interview.

Since Xi Jinping took power in 2012, China has launched a massive crackdown on civil society, with hundreds of lawyers and activists arrested or jailed for challenging the Communist Party line.

More than 200 lawyers and activists were detained last summer and law firms were targeted because of their client lists.