"Chinese state media have offered the first response to the international outcry over the detention of Ai Weiwei, with a newspaper commentary saying his actions are "ambiguous in law" and attacking the west for criticising China over human rights.
Internet users supporting the missing artist and social critic have fought back against censorship of the topic with typical ingenuity, posting online thinly veiled references to the missing 53-year-old.
Ai was detained by officials at Beijing airport on Sunday morning and has not been heard from since. His friend Wen Tao, 38, is also missing after his reported detention on the same day.
Beijing police have not notified Ai's family of detention nor replied to faxed queries about both men.
Wednesday's commentary, which ran in the popular nationalist tabloid the Global Times and its more muted English edition, does not say that Ai is detained. But it observes: "As a maverick of Chinese society, [Ai] likes 'surprising speech' and 'surprising behaviour'. He also likes to do something ambiguous in law. On 1 April, he went to Taiwan via Hong Kong. But it was reported his departure procedures were incomplete."
Ai's assistant, who was travelling with him, said she last saw him as they passed through immigration controls.
The article accused critics of "exaggerat[ing] a specific case in China and attack[ing] China with fierce comments before finding out the truth". It said the west had sought to change the country's value system and had "ignored the complexity of China's running judicial environment and the characteristics of Ai Weiwei's individual behaviour. They simply described it as China's 'human rights suppression'."
It added: "Ai Weiwei chooses to have a different attitude from ordinary people toward law. However, the law will not concede before 'mavericks' just because of the western media's criticism."
The Chinese version included several lines missing from the English translation, including a reference to Ai as "stubborn and unruly", a remark that "the Ai Weiwei being taken away case will soon be clear" and the observation: "That's the root cause of Chinese people loathing the west; when the west tries to impose pressure on China using human rights excuses."
The piece follows a growing international outcry over the artist's disappearance, with the US, Britain and the EU criticising China's growing crackdown on dissidents and activists.
According to the Chinese Human Rights Defenders network, a dozen people are missing, including several high-profile rights lawyers – three arrested for incitement to subversion; one sent to labour camp; and 26 criminally detained, although five of those have been released on bail.
On the popular Sina microblog, the domestic equivalent of Twitter, censors deleted many messages about Ai, and a search for his name triggers a warning that results are not shown because of local regulations. But some used the words "ai weilai" or "love the future" – which looks and sounds similar to his name – to call for his return.
"Sometimes, it is not easy to love the future," wrote one. Another said: "I really don't dare believe that in this society, even love for the future can disappear." Others posted messages saying they were looking for "a fat guy called Ai"– a reference to the artist's impressive girth.
On Twitter, which is blocked in China but which can be accessed through proxies or virtual private networks, some users changed their profile picture to a photograph of Ai."
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