Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei believes the newly passed national security law for Hong Kong augurs the end for the semi-autonomous city. Ai was arrested at Beijing's airport in April 2011 and held for 81 days without explanation during a wider crackdown on dissent that coincided with the international
SEOUL, South Korea — Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei believes the newly passed national security law for Hong Kong augurs the end for the semi-autonomous city.
Many in Hong Kong fear their city will become like any other in mainland China after the National People's Congress in Beijing approved the national security law. It targets people and groups suspected of sedition or other threats to safety and security and follows recent arrests of many leading pro-democracy activists in the former British colony.
In one of the best known cases, five Hong Kong booksellers went missing in 2015 and were later found to have been detained in China for selling books critical of the government. When Ai was released, it was announced that he had confessed to tax evasion and fined $2.4 million bill. He has since left China on his Chinese passport and legally has the right to return. His last visit to the Chinese mainland was a few months after he first left in July 2015, his studio said.
"No any other art industry in the world can catch that kind of flexibility,” he said, referring to countless posters and graffiti slogans on Hong Kong’s once-spotless walls, concrete barriers, roads, and tram tracks.
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