From the Financial Times:
Chinese police have detained dozens of dissidents and political reform advocates ahead of US President Barack Obama’s first visit to China, according to family members and human rights activists.
The crackdown comes as human rights groups worry that Mr Obama, who arrived in China on Sunday, will play down China’s poor human rights record in order to get cooperation from Beijing on issues such as climate change, trade and the economy…At least 30 other activists who were expected to join one dissident in applying for the right to protest have also likely been detained, according to activists. They provided more than a dozen names of people whom they said had been detained.
“We get the impression Obama doesn’t want to talk about human rights on this trip, but it is precisely because of his visit here that these people are being rounded up and detained right now,” (stated Chinese artist and political blogger Ai Weiwei) … “We’re not asking him to give us human rights, but he’s coming here to make deals and advance US interests, and we think if he doesn’t talk about the real conditions here then he shouldn’t come.”
