Activist Ai Weiwei claims coronavirus is leading to more restrictive China control

An artist who had previously been arrested for his activism against the repressive Chinese government claims the coronavirus lockdown is allowing the Asian nation to become more restrictive in providing crucially accurate health data.

Ai Weiwei, the renowned Beijing-born artist who now lives in England, fears the pandemic will offer cover for China to restrict the flow of disease information.

As of Wednesday, there have been 4,632 confirmed coronavirus deaths in China, according to data obtained by tracker Worldometer. But Ai is unsure what the true fatality toll is because the communist country is frequently not forthcoming.

“For China, everything is for political use. And they have a clear reason to give the numbers they want to, or to limit or to change or distort the so-called truth,” explained the 62-year-old artist. “A number means nothing to them. In many cases in China, you don’t even get the real names of how many people. They are completely lost because the state wants (to preserve) its own image.”

Ai was detained on a tax evasion charge in 2011, a move he believes was motivated by his outspoken views, according to CNN.

Following the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake, which likely killed upwards of 90,000 people, Ai established a group to identify the youngest victims by recording information through parental confirmations, birth dates and attended schools. But the Chinese government, according to Ai, attempted to censor that data.

“China has 1.4 billion people and one single power,” said Ai. “They have to actually maintain this kind of power by knowing everybody — what’s on their mind and their behavior.”

Now, amid the COVID-19 outbreak, Ai fears Chinese officials’ control of information will become even more restrictive. Reportedly, authorities are utilizing a color-based code system that is tracking residents’ movements to allegedly curb the virus spread. Unique digital codes have been assigned to hundreds of millions of residents which indicate their health status while potentially barring them from using public transportation or attending restaurants.

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