Chinese CP Congress shows ruthless leaders, says Ai Weiwei
Steph Deschamps / October 25, 2022
The forced exit of former Chinese president Hu Jintao from the Communist Party congress shows how “ruthless” the country’s leaders have become, dissident artist Ai Weiwei said Monday in Tokyo.
Speaking in the aftermath of Xi Jinping’s reappointment to a historic third term as head of the Chinese CP, Ai Weiwei, who has lived in Europe since 2015, described in his own way the moment when 79-year-old Hu Jintao was unwillingly escorted out at Saturday’s closing ceremony in Beijing.
“It looks very much like a fake photo” because “no one moves, no one blinks. He’s just being forced out. But it shows that the top leadership of the central government is ruthless,” said Ai Weiwei.
A great nation – 1.4 billion people – is controlled by a group of people who have no respect, not only for the rules, but really have no personal feelings, emotions, friendship, or (desire) to care a bit” about people.
The son of a poet revered by former communist leaders, Ai Weiwei, 65, helped design the famous “Bird’s Nest” stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympics as an architect.
But he fell from grace after criticizing the Chinese government and was jailed for 81 days in 2011 before finally leaving for Germany four years later.
The dissident artist said that the Chinese leadership “no longer cares so much” about improving the economy, “they want to reinterpret the world order.”
“Not only China but also Russia, Putin also mentioned it. They don’t like the way the game was designed by the West, which also has a lot of problems. »
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