Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Catch-22 Chinese Style

The Chinese government says it has found Ai Wei Wei guilty of tax evasion, as noted in a prior post, and that he owes the equivalent of 2,300,000 USD in back taxes, fines and late fees. The Chinese and the Art World responded via donations. Paper 100 Yuan notes (worth $15.30 USD each) began flying over the wall of Wei Wei's compound, and enclosed in fruit (a sign of good luck). They also began coming in through Pay Pal, for a current total of over 800,000 USD as of yesterday.

A communist newspaper named the Global Times says the donations are illegal, since they are "borrowed from the public" and thus deemed illegal fund-raising.

It seems like Ai Wei Wei is being continually boxed-in with no way out. It looks like he is between a rock and a hard place in that if he pays, it will be a tacit admission of guilt, and if not, odds are a prison stay lengthy awaits.

[Link]

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