Edward McMillan-Scott on Ai Weiwei

During the week, Conservative turned Liberal Democrat MEP Edward McMillan-Scott used the pages of The Guardian to take up the case of Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei:

With the world’s attention on the uprisings in the Middle East, Chinese authorities are reacting to the widespread rumblings since mid-February, when a “jasmine revolution” was called across China, and a few brave souls dared to express their protest.

Ai, who is best known for creating the sunflower seed installation in London’s Tate Modern and his work on Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium, is the highest-profile victim in the heavy-handed suppression of political dissidents by Chinese officials…

In the runup to the EU-China human rights dialogue at the end of May – which Beijing, angry that the 2010 Nobel peace prize was awarded to Liu – cancelled last December – the EU should press the Chinese authorities to end the disappearances, release political prisoners and begin the political “reforms” hinted at recently by Wen Jiabao, China’s premier. If there is no response, the EU should suspend the dialogue.

You can read Edward McMillan-Scott’s piece here.