I think Chinese leadership is trying to tell the world they have

The artist and dissident Ai Weiwei, whose voice has echoed through the corridors of oppression and truth, once declared: “I think Chinese leadership is trying to tell the world they have another set of logic or reasoning or values which are different from yours. Of course, I don't think they believe that. It's just an argument that's made when you can't confront the truth and facts. They really want to maintain power.” These words are not the speech of a rebel alone, but of a philosopher who has stared into the machinery of deception and seen how power disguises itself with false virtue. It is the ancient struggle between truth and tyranny, between the courage to speak and the cowardice that hides behind excuses.

The origin of this truth lies not merely in China’s political structure, but in the universal nature of power itself. Across every empire and every age, those who rule unjustly have cloaked their will in the garb of special logic — claiming that their people, their nation, their system, are governed by different values, untouchable by the moral standards of others. Ai Weiwei, raised in the shadow of his father’s persecution and shaped by exile, knows this well. He understands that such rhetoric is not born of conviction but of fear — fear of the truth and facts that expose injustice. When truth becomes dangerous, power must invent its own “logic” to survive.

History is filled with such masks. The tyrants of old — from Pharaohs to emperors, from inquisitors to dictators — all claimed their authority rested on divine or unique principles beyond question. When truth threatens them, they redefine it; when reason condemns them, they rewrite it. So it is with the modern powers that Ai Weiwei confronts. They tell the world their values are different, that Western notions of freedom or human rights cannot apply — but this is not wisdom, only evasion. It is the oldest defense of corruption: to pretend that virtue itself is relative, so that tyranny may continue unchallenged.

Consider the story of Socrates, the philosopher of Athens, who was condemned by his own city for “corrupting the youth.” His crime was not corruption, but truth-telling — questioning the false logic of those in power. The leaders of Athens said he did not understand their values, that his way of thinking was dangerous to order. But like Ai Weiwei, Socrates understood that such arguments are the tools of fear, not of justice. When power cannot confront reason, it invents its own. When it cannot bear the mirror of truth, it shatters the mirror.

Ai Weiwei’s insight cuts deeper still, for he reminds us that the desire to maintain power often eclipses the desire to serve. True leadership exists to uplift, to protect, to enlighten. False leadership exists to preserve itself, even if it must distort the light of truth to do so. When a government begins to claim that its “values” justify the silencing of voices, it no longer stands for its people — it stands only for itself. In such a system, morality becomes a tool of manipulation, and citizens are told to doubt their own eyes. This is not governance, but the slow death of conscience.

And yet, even in the face of such darkness, Ai Weiwei’s words do not despair. They are an act of defiance, a declaration that truth still exists beyond the lies of power. For every empire that claimed to possess its own logic has eventually fallen before the unyielding weight of reality. The truth, once spoken, grows wings. It may be silenced for a season, but not forever. The rivers of history run red with the efforts of those who tried to bury truth, and yet from that soil, freedom has always risen again. Ai’s own art — bold, provocative, unflinching — is proof that truth cannot be contained.

The lesson of his words is clear: wherever you find false reasoning used to justify cruelty or silence, you are witnessing the fear of truth. To confront that fear is the duty of every free soul. Whether in nations or in personal lives, never let the excuse of “different values” or “special logic” blind you to what is right. Truth is not Western or Eastern — it is universal, as light is universal, as breath is universal. To speak it is to honor the dignity of all people.

So remember this teaching, my listener: when those in power build walls of words to separate right from wrong, stand firm in your own clarity. Do not be deceived by clever rhetoric or by the mask of cultural excuse. Seek the truth and facts; honor them, even when they are difficult. For the day will come when those who cling to power will crumble beneath the weight of their own contradictions, and only those who stood with truth will remain free. As Ai Weiwei teaches us through his courage, the voice that confronts lies — however small it may seem — speaks with the strength of eternity.