China's ambassador: "We respond to lies"

During the summer, representatives of the Chinese regime criticized several Swedish media for reporting on the protests in Hong Kong. The Chinese embassy in Stockholm has also sharply criticized SVT for spreading "anti-Chinese propaganda", something the Cultural News has previously reported.

According to a report from the Foreign Policy Institute published in June, China's pressure on Swedish media has increased since 2018, but this is not a picture shared by China's ambassador to Stockholm, Gui Congyou.

- It's not about increased activity. As we see that Swedish media's reporting on China seriously distorts the real situation in China, we must clarify the situation and respond to this, says Gui Congyou to the Culture News.

Swedish media has on several occasions in recent years teased representatives of the Chinese embassy. For example, news of the imprisoned Swedish-Chinese book publisher Gui Minhai and about the demonstrations in Hong Kong has been met with harsh criticism from the Chinese side. On the embassy website, the list of critical responses to Swedish China reporting is also getting longer.

- We have noted that the embassy spends a lot of time to find out what Swedish media reports on China. There have been a lot of aggressive attacks and attacks, not least against freelancers. However, nothing will affect our reporting, says Charlotta Friborg, responsible publisher for SVT News.

- Reporting in Swedish media that does not match reality in China makes friendships and cooperation between our countries more difficult. We must correct and respond to such statements, says Gui Congyou.

Do you mean that Swedish media, such as SVT News, are lying when they report on China?

"The reporting on China that makes us react is a lie," says Gui Congyou.