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The cloth burns between Sweden and China. The decision of a Swedish writers' association - a branch of the famous International PEN - to award an award to Gui Minhai, a dissident Chinese publisher, has angered Beijing. This award, which has already distinguished Salman Rushdie, or Taslima Nasreen, is awarded to a man or a literary persecuted in his country. A provocation for Beijing.
With our correspondent in Stockholm, Frédéric Faux
The ceremony, held Friday in a museum in Stockholm, went well as planned, with a strong presence of the press and the police. Giu Minhai, publisher and writer of Chinese origin, but of Swedish nationality after his studies in Gothenburg, has been awarded the Tucholsky Prize.
But Amanda Lind, the Swedish Minister of Culture in charge of awarding the prize, could only go to an empty chair. Giu Minhai is indeed imprisoned in China, where his publications, published in Hong Kong, do not please the communist power .
This did not stop the Chinese ambassador from protesting vigorously, threatening even retaliation by Stockholm, saying that exchanges and cooperation will be severely affected.
And this is not the first time that Beijing has attacked Sweden, one of the few countries in Europe that dares to denounce publicly its human rights abuses.
The latest incident between the two countries goes back a little over a year, when Chinese tourists refusing to pay a room were expelled from a hotel lobby . They then accused the Swedish police of violence, alerting their embassy, which led to another diplomatic crisis.