Ai Weiwei: 'They said I am a free person'

In his first lengthy interview since arriving in Munich on July 30, 57-year-old artist Ai Weiwei told the German daily "Süddeutsche Zeitung" that Chinese authorities had returned his passport with almost no strings attached and promised him that he could return home.

Ai, known for criticizing China's Communist regime, told the newspaper that his leave had "virtually no" conditions.

"They have also promised me that I could return, which was very important to me," Ai told the newspaper. "They said I am a free person."

Chinese authorities confiscated Ai's passport for four years on tax evasion charges in 2011. Officials eventually let him leave for Germany last week.

"They know that I want to make China into a better country, that I am concerned about the young generation," Ai told the newspaper. "There is a basis of trust. Otherwise they would not allow me, the former enemy of the state, my exhibitions; otherwise they would not have returned my passport."

Long-awaited travels

After Chinese authorities returned his passport in July, Ai said Germany had granted him a four-year multiple entry visa. Berlin's University of Fine Arts has offered Ai a guest professorship. Ai arrived in Berlin on Wednesday afternoon.

Ai reunited with his 6-year-old son at Munich airport upon his arrival and underwent medical tests in the southern city. He told the newspaper that doctors had given him a clean bill of health.

The artist did not comment in the interview about plans to travel to Britain, where last week Interior Minister Theresa May ordered officials to grant him a six-month visa, reversing a decision to restrict him to a short trip that had prompted condemnation from rights groups.

mkg/cmk (AFP, dpa, AP)