Ai Weiwei gives his first public interview since being released from jail
August 11, 2011
Ai Weiwei, a rebellious Chinese artist, has a worldwide reputation for speaking out against his nation's government. He was detained on suspicions of tax evasion, and his arrest spawned a global outcry for the Chinese government to release him. Ai returned to the outside world back in June, after spending three months in jail. When he was released, he told reporters that he was fine and would not be giving interviews, according to The New York Times.
Recently, however, he spoke with China's Global Times - a publication that has close ties to the Chinese government.
"Overthrowing the regime through a radical revolution is not the way to solve China's problems," he told The Global Times. "The most important thing is a scientific and democratic political system."
Ai appears to be returning to his critical ways, but the news source reports that he has been banned from using Twitter. His wife, Xiong Quihong, wants her husband to have a public trial so that the case of tax evasion cannot be politicized.
The story was not published in the Chinese edition, so people can use international phone cards to make calls to China to tell their friends and family about the artist's interview.