“Small against large in the blue and yellow stake of the Gui Minhai”
“nuclear threat, extremism and polarization. And at the same time, the unpredictable powers, one of which – China – keeps the Gui Minhai imprisoned. Minister for foreign affairs Margot Wallström (S) describes a dark and troubled time, and says that the state department is working very hard with the Swedish publisher’s case.”
“– We take one step forward and one back sometimes. We are in contact with his daughter and has by pressure ensured that he received medical help, ” she says in a nyårsintervju with TT.”
“the Case of the Gui Minhai included in the daily work at the state department, which is in constant contact with China’s Swedish ambassador in the u.s. and the Swedish embassy in Beijing, according to Margot Wallström.”
” the Goal is that he should be released, we are working for it after all the tracks we can find.”
“In autumn, the economic giant mullrat substantial, then a group of chinese tourists in september was rejected from a hostel in Stockholm, after having arrived too early. In christmas renewed Beijing its resevarning current Sweden, something that is not likely to make negotiations on the Gui Minhai easier. Critical voices, among other things, on the ledarsidor, has demanded that Sweden should do more for the publisher who has been detained for three years.”
” I would be happy to receive tips on what it could be. We are a small country against a very, very big country. But we are working on and have the diplomatic contact open.”
“TT: Play the Swedish trade with China? Doing the situation extra sensitive?”
“– Well, for the most part, we keep the questions outside. We are trying to manage the diplomatic and political by making it very clear what we think.”
“in Parallel, the world has in recent months been rocked by Russia’s actions in the sea of Azov, where three Ukrainian ships were confiscated and 24 Ukrainian sailors, detained, and of the assassination of the saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Wallström describes the latter as horrendous and unacceptable, but do not think that the international community’s demands for an independent investigation will affect Sweden’s relationship to saudi Arabia.”
“– We’re talking, of course, also with countries with which we do not agree with. We have already finished our military cooperation agreements, and has practically no arms exports and no new contracts from 2015.”
“the Crises, and the ongoing conflicts in, among others, Syria and Yemen, shaded the last months of Sweden’s membership in the UN security council. But Wallström is proud of the efforts of the council, she considers that Sweden has stood up for the blue and yellow values, and lift the linkage between women, peace and security.”
” And we have made a difference in some of our time’s worst crises: Yemen, Myanmar and Syria.”
“She notes, however, that the world has become increasingly restless, unpredictable and complex, and warns that several countries want to acquire or modernize their nuclear weapons. A lesson learned is that the world needs more multilateral cooperation, considers the minister of foreign affairs, despite such initiatives being questioned in many quarters.”
” I worry that the big countries as we have been able to count as allies, like the united states, are prepared to abandon the paris agreement (on climate). And brexit looms over us like a dark cloud.”
“TT: How do you look in 2019?”
“– It will require the cooperation of the international community and in the EUROPEAN circuit. It is almost like a battle between good and evil.”
“TT: Which meeting have made the greatest impression on you during the past year?”
“– And the meeting with the laureates, it was great that Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege received the prize and a question that I’ve been working with for so long – sexual violence in conflict – attracted the attention. But it was also special to have north korea’s foreign minister and the yemeni parties here in Sweden. It has been a good call.”
“Gui Minhai was born in China. He came to Sweden to study in 1988. After the massacre on tiananmen square in Beijing in 1989, he received a residence permit and later citizenship.”
“the Publisher ran a publishing company, Mighty Current and the bookstore Causeway Bay in Hong kong. The publisher gave out sensitive books with corrosive satire about the chinese leaders until the five employees disappeared at the end of 2015. Gui Minhai himself disappeared on 17 October 2015, when he left his holiday home in Pattaya in Thailand.”
“In January 2016, sent to state-run chinese CCTV”
“Neither of the daughter of Angela Gui, or someone else in his presence, had before its heard that the Gui Minhai would have been involved in any accident. The publisher released in October 2017, after serving the punishment, according to the chinese authorities. According to his daughter he was after it in a milder form of house arrest in the city of Ningbo, where police officers followed him as soon as he went out.”
“On 20 January in the year journeyed Gui Minhai on trains in China in the company of two Swedish diplomats to visit the doctor at the Swedish embassy since he showed symptoms of ALS. During a stop stepped ten plainclothes police officers on board and brought him away, according to the daughter.”
“Sweden, the EU and various organisations have criticised China’s actions vis-à-vis the Gui Minhai.”
“Sources: SVT, Human Rights Watch, the TT’s archives, with multiple”
“Sweden’s most recent period as an elected member of the UN security council stretched over 2017 and 2018. Sweden began to be president in January 2017 and had his second term in office in July 2018.”
“The two years in the council was marked by the crises in Yemen, Syria and Myanmar, as well as discussions on, inter alia, north Korea, Congo-Kinshasa, south Sudan and the situation between the israelis and the palestinians. Sweden took the initiative for more conflict prevention and brought up the child rights perspective on the agenda. It also worked to ensure that women are included in security and peace processes, and brought up the link between climate change and security on the agenda.”
“the united nations-ambassador Olof Skoog and Carl tv of the treaty, the ambassador to the security council, represented the often Sweden at the rådsbordet in the united nations headquarters in New York. From time to time set where even the minister for foreign affairs Margot Wallström (S), and prime minister Stefan Löfven (S).”
