(AP) – TAIPEI – “He’s an artist and should have the freedom to express his artistic views,” President Ma Ying-jeou said after viewing Ai Weiwei’s exhibition at a Taipei museum. “This is also the core value of Taiwan.”
Ma said he deplored that Chinese police detained Ai at the Beijing airport on April 3 as the conceptual artist was about to depart for Taiwan to prepare for the exhibit. The detention came during a sweeping Chinese crackdown on activists and sparked an international outcry over China’s deteriorating human rights situation. Ai was released in June but is prohibited from leaving Beijing.
