The French centrist travelled to China earlier this week, offering to open up the French economy to investors in exchange for greater access to China’s booming markets.
Mr Ai, a prominent artist and activist who was tortured by Chinese police before fleeing to Germany, told Europe 1 radio: “Mr Macron did not publicly speak out against China’s human rights record for a simple reason: he was on a business trip.
“But any leader with respect for the history of humanity has a duty to speak out – and this louder than anyone else – against the violation of human rights.”
Mr Macron, who is barely nine months into his presidency, said on Tuesday the had voiced his concerns about Beijing’s human rights track record with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping “in private”.
Mr Macron told reporters: “Mr Xi is aware of the human-rights related concerns in Europe, especially the need [for China] to respect fundamental rights and freedoms.
“I know that this is an important issue for him… But our discussion took place behind closed doors”.
Mr Ai, for his part, further slammed the French president for speaking to Mr Xi privately and out of earshot of journalists.
He said: “I don’t believe in private meetings.
“A public figure should always speak in public.
“Who knows what they say to each other when they’re alone?
“Do French people no longer care about human rights?”
Thierry Wolton, a French political journalist, also condemned the 40-year-old leader’s decision to turn a blind eye to China’s human rights record, saying that the Elysée Palace’s silence on the issue was “deafening”.
Mr Wolton said in a column published by the French daily Le Monde on Wednesday: “Mr Macron refused to lecture China on civil liberties, just like his predecessors.
“[Mr Macron] has chosen to hide behind the state’s ‘superior interests’ and forget about the most basic principles of democracy… The Chinese regime is communist at heart, and Chinese leaders continue to wage an ongoing civil war against their own people.”
The French president said during his China trip that he hoped for greater openness from China, underlining his wish to boost Sino-French relations and narrow the widening trade deficit between the two countries.