UK accused of playing politics over artist

Ai Weiwei films the media after being welcomed to Germany by Bavarian Green politician Margarethe Bauseat at the airport in Munich yesterday. Photo / AP

Britain was accused yesterday of playing into the hands of China after it refused the political dissident Ai Weiwei a six-month business visa and claimed he lied on his application form.

China's best-known contemporary artist plans to attend the opening of his exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts next month.

He received a new passport a week ago after his old one was taken away by Chinese authorities following his 81-day detention without charge in 2011. But after he applied for a six-month UK visa at the British embassy in Beijing, he was told his entry to the UK would be restricted to a three-week tourist visa because he had failed to declare a criminal conviction.

Ai's lawyers insisted that he has never been charged or convicted of a crime in China, though his company was fined US$2.4 million ($3.7 million) in 2012 after losing a civil case over a tax dispute. The proceedings were widely seen as a reprisal for the artist's criticism of the ruling Communist party.

In the British embassy letter, which the activist posted online, officials claim it is "a matter of public record that you have previously received a criminal conviction in China, and you have not declared this".

It continues: "While an exception has been made in this instance, any future application you submit must be completed as accurately as possible, otherwise there is a risk that future applications may be refused."

Ai said yesterday: "This decision is a denial of my rights as an ordinary citizen." It means he will not be in the UK when China's President Xi Jinping makes a state visit in October, prompting speculation that the refusal was politically motivated.

The 57-year-old artist yesterday arrived in Germany after it granted him a four-year multiple entry visa to visit his 6-year-old son.

Maya Wang, a China researcher for campaign group Human Rights Watch, said the Government "appears not to have done its homework" and the decision was "politically motivated".

James Savage, a director at Amnesty UK, added: "While on this occasion this could be an administrative error that we hope will likely be swiftly rectified, Ai Weiwei's case does speak to a wider problem. The Chinese authorities routinely charge and convict human rights defenders with spurious, politically motivated criminal offences, for precisely the reasons this case illustrates, to tarnish an individual's reputation and make it difficult for them to travel freely and raise their concerns internationally."

When the Daily Telegraph asked the Home Office to explain why it claimed Ai had a criminal conviction, a spokesman said: "Reports that Mr Ai has been refused a visa are incorrect."

Later, the spokesman added: "This case did not come to the Home Secretary, and she is now looking into it."