Ai Weiwei, in London for Exhibition, Softens Tone Toward Beijing

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/12/world/europe/ai-weiwei-royal-academy-of-arts-britain-china.html

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LONDON — The dissident artist Ai Weiwei, in London to attend an overseas exhibit for the first time in five years after his travel ban in China was recently lifted, abandoned his usual combative style toward the authorities on Friday in favor of a conciliatory tone.

Speaking at a news conference here at the Royal Academy of Arts, which will host a major show of his work starting Sept. 19, Mr. Ai was less charitable in talking about Britain, however, which initially refused to give him a six-month visa.

During Mr. Ai’s battles with the Chinese authorities, Britain was the only Western government that did not offer him support, he said, likening his struggle to obtain a visa to having a door slammed in his face.

Mr. Ai’s passport was revoked when he was released after 81 days in custody four years ago, although he was never formally charged. He said that officials had told him he was being detained for “subversion of power,” for receiving foreign aid and speaking with journalists.

“I think it was rather a very difficult decision they made,” he said. Asked, amid speculation that he may have reached some sort of deal with the Chinese authorities, whether he thought their attitude toward him had changed, he said, “In my case, certainly it’s improved.”

He pointed out, however, that his lawyer, remains in detention.

The Chinese authorities appear to have become more compromising over the years, he said, which may have led to his passport being returned in July. “There must have been some kind of understanding over the past four, five years about who I am,” he said. “Definitely it came to a point that, I really think, there was no reason not to let me go.”

In general, the Chinese authorities do not comment on the nature of Mr. Ai’s artwork, with one or two exceptions that he did not identify. When he was investigating the deaths of thousands of schoolchildren during the May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, “they never questioned my research because it was factual,” he said. “But if I talked about more abstract ideas, they would become frustrated because it would hurt China’s image.”

The authorities demanded nothing in exchange for lifting his travel ban, he said, but “he had no idea” whether they would allow him to return to Beijing. “We’ll find out,” he said.

When he asked whether he would be allowed back, “They said ‘Of course, you can go out and come in,’ ” he said. “They also said ‘We understand you’re an artist and your artworks are your life.’ So I was impressed they said that.”

His joy over the return of his passport quickly soured when Britain declined his application for a six-month business visa to travel to London for his exhibition, on the grounds that he had lied on his visa application when he declared that he had never been convicted of a crime.

A former lawyer for Mr. Ai has said the artist was involved in a tax case involving a design firm with which he is affiliated, but that the charges were not filed against him personally. Even though a fine was issued, the matter has not been formally settled, and in any event it is not a criminal case, said the lawyer, Liu Xiaoyuan.

Describing the moment after he received his passport, Mr. Ai said: “I turned my face and I see that the door had slammed from the other side.”

After much criticism, the British government quickly reversed its decision, and Home Secretary Theresa May later sent him a letter of apology.

There has been speculation that Britain, which has sought closer economic and trade ties with China after a period of tension, was trying to avoid embarrassing President Xi Jinping by preventing Mr. Ai from being in Britain during his state visit in October.

Asked whether he thought the decision to deny him a visa was a mistake or a deliberate act intended to placate the Chinese authorities, Mr. Ai declined to offer an opinion. Instead, he talked about the support he received from other countries.

“I met all the ambassadors in Beijing, from U.S., Germany, Canada, Australia, even the French once,,” he said. “But I never met a British ambassador.”

British officials appeared to be reluctant “to touch the issues relating to anything which would disturb, actually,” he said. “They should have a voice in matters, because this is a fundamental value.”

The exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts, which will run until Dec. 13, will include major works from 1993 to the present, including his latest work, “Remains,” porcelain replicas of bones intended to symbolize the crackdown against dissidents during the regime of Mao Zedong.