By DPA,
London : Leading Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has urged British Prime Minister David Cameron to raise the question of human rights when he travels to China later Monday.
Writing in the Guardian newspaper , Weiwei, who was reported to have been placed under renewed house arrest, criticized global leaders for being “reluctant” to raise the problem with the Chinese leadership.
“Cameron should ask the Chinese government not to make people ‘disappear’ or to jail them merely because they have different opinions. Cameron should say that the civilised world cannot see China as a civilised country if it doesn’t change its own behaviour,” Weiwei wrote.
The artist, who is hugely popular in Europe, opened a major exhibition of more than 100 million ceramic sunflower seeds in London’s Tate Modern gallery last month.
However, the public were banned from walking on the “carpet” of the porcelain replicas as the dust was considered hazardous to visitors’ health.
Cameron is due to leave for China with a 200-strong trade delegation later Monday for his first trip to the Asian economic giant since he became British leader in May.