Opposition politicians and human rights activists yesterday urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to invite Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei (艾未未) to Taiwan in conjunction with a solo exhibition of his works that opens at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum today.
“It’s too bad that Ai himself cannot come to Taipei to attend the opening of the exhibition,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) said at a news conference.
Since Chinese citizens are now allowed to travel independently to Taiwan, it is rather odd for Ai to be absent from the opening ceremony of his first solo exhibition in Taipei, Tien said.
Photo: Pichi Chuang, Reuters
“We should not remain silent. Both President Ma and Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) should speak out to push the Chinese authorities to allow Ai to come to Taiwan for the grand ceremony,” she said.
Ai, an outspoken critic of the control the Chinese Communist Party has on Chinese society and censorship in the country, is currently being investigated for tax evasion and has been barred from leaving the country.
He was released in June after an almost three-month detention, which sparked outrage worldwide. He took the top spot in Art Review magazine’s recently released annual list of the world’s most powerful figures in the art world.
Tien called on Ma to formally invite Ai to Taiwan as a free independent traveler (FIT). The FIT program for Chinese tourists, in place since June 28, is a program open to residents of select cities in China and allows them to travel independently, as opposed to in a tour group.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Lee Chien-chang (李建昌) echoed Tien’s call.
“Only when people from both sides are able to engage with each other freely will President Ma’s efforts to promote peaceful development across the Taiwan Strait be meaningful,” Lee said.
“Since the FIT program is already in place, why is it that the Taiwanese government feared letting Ai come to Taiwan to see his own exhibition?” Taiwan Association for China Human Rights executive council member Ruan Ming (阮銘) asked, calling on Taiwanese to let the Chinese government know that they hoped Ai could have visited Taiwan.
Dubbed “Ai Weiwei Absent,” the exhibition will feature 21 works, including photographs, installation pieces, videos, 12 bronze heads representing Chinese zodiac symbols and a new piece consisting of about 1,000 bicycles reflecting China’s social changes.
Taipei Fine Arts Museum deputy director Liu Ming-hsing (劉明興) recently said that Ai was very excited to stage a large-scale solo exhibition in Taiwan.
“We invited him to attend the opening ceremony of the exhibition at the museum,” Liu said. “So far, he hasn’t been able to give us a definite response.”
Museum officials earlier this month said that Ai’s wife, Lu Qing (路青), plans to visit Taiwan early next month.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS