Ambassador arranged meeting where Chinese demanded media silence in exchange for Gui Minhai’s release
By Eva Dou
Anna Lindstedt, Sweden’s ambassador to China, is the second Western ambassador to China recalled in a month.
BEIJING—Sweden has recalled its ambassador to China and opened an internal investigation into her role in arranging a meeting where Chinese businessmen threatened the daughter of a detained Swedish bookseller, Sweden’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
Anna Lindstedt is the second Western ambassador to China recalled in a month, stoking concerns about China’s potential growing leverage over foreign diplomats.
It was also another bizarre twist in the case of the bookseller Gui Minhai—whose detention has drawn widespread attention from Western governments, angering Beijing.
By Eva Dou
Anna Lindstedt, Sweden’s ambassador to China, is the second Western ambassador to China recalled in a month.
BEIJING—Sweden has recalled its ambassador to China and opened an internal investigation into her role in arranging a meeting where Chinese businessmen threatened the daughter of a detained Swedish bookseller, Sweden’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
Anna Lindstedt is the second Western ambassador to China recalled in a month, stoking concerns about China’s potential growing leverage over foreign diplomats.
It was also another bizarre twist in the case of the bookseller Gui Minhai—whose detention has drawn widespread attention from Western governments, angering Beijing.
Mr. Gui is a Chinese-born Swedish citizen and had been based in Hong Kong, where he specialized in selling political titles banned in mainland China.
He first disappeared from his Thailand home in 2015 into Chinese custody, then was snatched again by Chinese agents last year while on a train with Swedish diplomats.
He remains in custody, facing unspecified state-secret charges.
Mr. Gui’s daughter, Angela Gui, alleged on Wednesday in a widely circulated essay on the website Medium that Ms. Lindstedt had contacted her in mid-January, inviting her to meet some Chinese businessmen in Stockholm who offered to help with Mr. Gui’s case.
Mr. Gui’s daughter, Angela Gui, alleged on Wednesday in a widely circulated essay on the website Medium that Ms. Lindstedt had contacted her in mid-January, inviting her to meet some Chinese businessmen in Stockholm who offered to help with Mr. Gui’s case.
The meetings turned strange, with the men requesting she not leave the hotel during the day, plying her with wine and asking her to go work with them in China.
Angela Gui, whose father is in Chinese custody facing unspecified state-secret charges.
The men demanded she stop making public statements, in exchange for her father’s release with a reduced penalty.
Angela Gui, whose father is in Chinese custody facing unspecified state-secret charges.
The men demanded she stop making public statements, in exchange for her father’s release with a reduced penalty.
Ms. Lindstedt attended the meetings and agreed with the plan, Ms. Gui wrote.
“I was taken aback and said I didn’t trust him,” she wrote of one of the unnamed businessmen.
“I was taken aback and said I didn’t trust him,” she wrote of one of the unnamed businessmen.
“He then said, ‘You have to trust me, or you will never see your father again.’ ”
Ms. Lindstedt told her China might punish Sweden if she continued her activism and that officials at Sweden’s Foreign Ministry were unaware that Ms. Lindstedt had arranged the meeting.
An email to Ms. Lindstedt’s email address returned an auto reply: “I have finished my mission in Beijing to move back to Sweden.”
Ms. Gui didn’t respond to emails from the Journal on Thursday.
Rasmus Eljanskog, a press officer for Sweden’s Foreign Ministry, said in an emailed statement that an internal investigation has been initiated “due to information concerning incorrect action in connection with events at the end of January.”
Ms. Lindstedt told her China might punish Sweden if she continued her activism and that officials at Sweden’s Foreign Ministry were unaware that Ms. Lindstedt had arranged the meeting.
An email to Ms. Lindstedt’s email address returned an auto reply: “I have finished my mission in Beijing to move back to Sweden.”
Ms. Gui didn’t respond to emails from the Journal on Thursday.
Rasmus Eljanskog, a press officer for Sweden’s Foreign Ministry, said in an emailed statement that an internal investigation has been initiated “due to information concerning incorrect action in connection with events at the end of January.”
He declined to comment on details of the allegations.
Sweden takes cases involving restrictions on freedom of expression seriously, Mr. Eljanskog said.
Karl-Olof Andersson, deputy head of the Swedish Embassy in Beijing, said by telephone that he is acting head of the mission and referred further questions to Stockholm.
The case came weeks after Canada’s ambassador to China was fired for saying a senior Huawei Technologies Co. executive arrested at U.S. request had a good case to fight extradition.
Sweden takes cases involving restrictions on freedom of expression seriously, Mr. Eljanskog said.
Karl-Olof Andersson, deputy head of the Swedish Embassy in Beijing, said by telephone that he is acting head of the mission and referred further questions to Stockholm.
The case came weeks after Canada’s ambassador to China was fired for saying a senior Huawei Technologies Co. executive arrested at U.S. request had a good case to fight extradition.
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