China Rips Missing Artist as Disrespectful 'Maverick'

(Newser) – The future doesn't look good for world renowned Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei. He hasn't been seen since cops grabbed him over the weekend at Beijing airport. Now China's state-run newspaper is attacking him as a "maverick" who "doesn't respect" China's laws. Officials from the US, Britain, and the EU have expressed concerns about Ai's safety, which the the newspaper dismissed. "The West's behavior aims at disrupting the attention of Chinese society and attempts to modify the value system of the Chinese people," said the Global Times.

As for Ai, the nation "will not bend to mavericks," said the paper. Scores of writers, activists, and lawyers have been rounded up into custody as China seeks to head off protests like those in the Mideast, notes AP. Ai's mother is desperate to locate her son. "I am a mother who has lost her son, and has no place to look for him," she said. "Can someone tell me whether he has been detained, arrested and why? Where is the evidence of his crime? I don't understand why no one has explained anything to us."