China blasts 'maverick' artist Ai Weiwei after reported arrest

By the CNN Wire Staff

April 6, 2011 4:46 a.m. EDT

Ai Weiwei, shown in this file picture, has not been seen since Sunday when he was en route to Hong Kong.

(CNN) -- China's ruling Communist party unleashed a blistering attack Wednesday on dissident artist Ai Weiwei -- and on the West for criticizing his apparent arrest.

Ai has not been seen since Sunday, when he and an assistant said on Twitter that they had been taken into custody en route to Hong Kong.

China broke its silence Wednesday with a pair of articles in a Communist party newspaper.

One Global Times piece said he had been "detained by police, according to overseas media reports."

The other article, an editorial, said Ai "has been close to the red line of Chinese law... as long as Ai Weiwei continuously marches forward, he will inevitably touch the red line one day."

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