This is a shot across Ericsson's bow
Ex-Swedish ambassador to China denies breaching national security
Anna Lindstedt was recalled from Beijing in a case that has soured relations
Sweden’s former ambassador to China has denied breaching national security in the latest stage of a long-running spat between the two countries.
Anna Lindstedt, Sweden’s ambassador to Beijing until February, is under criminal investigation for breaches of national security, deputy chief public prosecutor Hans Ihrman told the Financial Times.
The investigation centres on claims by the daughter of Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai — a Swedish citizen detained in China — that the then ambassador organised an unauthorised meeting between her and two Chinese businessmen.
“My client has no other comment than she denies the crime and welcomes an investigation,” Conny Cedermark, Ms Lindstedt’s lawyer, told Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.
The national security investigation is the latest twist in a rapidly deteriorating relationship between the Scandinavian country and China after Mr Gui vanished from his home in Thailand in 2015 amid a broader crackdown on sellers of books about Chinese leaders. Mr Gui has since been held in China and was detained again in 2018 while travelling on a train with Swedish diplomats. He is accused of killing a young woman in a traffic accident.
China’s embassy in Sweden has been unusually outspoken in its criticism both of local authorities, Swedish media outlets and journalists.
It lashed out last year at Swedish police for what it termed the “brutal abuse of Chinese tourists” after videos were published online showing officers carrying an old man out of a Stockholm hostel. The embassy also issued a warning to Chinese travellers to Sweden.
Gui Congyou, the Chinese ambassador in Stockholm, has escalated his criticism of the country’s journalists over their coverage of China in recent months, drawing a sharp rebuke this week from Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
“Diplomatic missions have no say in the editorial content of media in their host country,” said Erik Halkjaer, head of RSF in Sweden.
There are also tensions between the two countries over the treatment of Muslim Uighurs. A recent ruling from Sweden’s immigration authorities was publicised this week granting refugee status to “asylum seekers from China who are Muslim and Uighur” after previously rejecting a case that led to an international outcry.
The UN estimates China is holding 1m Muslim Uighurs in concentration camps in the western province of Xinjiang, allegations Beijing has fiercely rejected. China says the camps are vocational training schools.
The case against Ms Lindstedt stems from an article written in February by Angela Gui, Mr Gui’s daughter, that the former ambassador invited her to Stockholm in January to meet two Chinese businessmen who could help her father. Ms Gui called the meetings “a very strange experience”, as the businessmen allegedly hinted they could help have her father released if she complied with their demands to stop talking publicly about the case.
Sweden’s foreign ministry recalled Ms Lindstedt from Beijing shortly afterwards and said she had acted “incorrectly” as it had no knowledge of the meetings.
The Chinese embassy in Sweden said it had never authorised anyone to meet Ms Gui. The Swedish embassy in Beijing has declined assistance from other European diplomats in Beijing over Mr Gui’s case.
Chinese business has a number of ties with Sweden after Zhejiang Geely successfully revived Volvo Cars earlier this decade. But there have been signs of growing suspicion in Sweden in recent months, not least after Geely took a stake in truckmaker Volvo Group and a revelation of how state-controlled funds bought several Swedish technology companies. |
