So suddenly there it was, the message that publisher Gui Minhai was sentenced to ten years in prison. According to the court, he is convicted of having provided foreign power - guessing Sweden - with intelligence. In addition, China claims that he would self-relinquish his Swedish citizenship.
The whole thing is, to say the least, surprising and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs you probably put the coffee in the wrong way when the information came this morning. When China's spokesman, Zhao Lijian, was asked about Swedish diplomats to meet Gui Minhai before the verdict, he replied that "consular visits were paused because of the spread of the Corona virus".
The question, however, is whether Covid-19 really stopped the Swedish visits. The communication between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and China on the issue of Minhai is said to be, to say the least, wordless. And relations between Sweden and China are more frosty than ever.
China's economy attracted
It has been five years since the Swedish citizen and publisher Gui Minhai disappeared from his holiday home in Thailand and then appeared in detention in China.
At that time, Sweden still boasted about its good relations with the Chinese state. The fast-growing Chinese economy was seen as a goldmine for Swedish companies. The fact that China was still far from a democracy that respected human rights was something they hoped to change with market economy forces.
Today we have a different view of China. For despite the growing economy, the population is rigorously controlled, dissidents imprisoned and dissimilar that the Muslim Uighurs are put in camp to "retrain".
Chinese pressure
This year, China is the world's second largest economy. The country's power has grown far beyond the Chinese borders. Several countries testify that they are subjected to both Chinese infiltration and severe pressure. The latter is something that Sweden has also been aware of. The case of Gui Minhai has led China's Ambassador to Sweden Gui Congyou to pronounce threats against both Swedish politicians and Swedish media.
"Showed where the cabinet should stand"
If anything, Sweden's "lack of understanding" of China's view of the matter regarding Gui Minhai has got the big country in the east to show where the cabinet should stand. Chinese affairs have nothing to do with Sweden - not even if the "matter" is a Swedish citizen.
The situation makes me think of when the then Foreign Minister Carl Bildt was pointed out in leaked Wikileaks documents as a "medium-sized dog with the attitude of a large dog". Perhaps Sweden must now accept that we are not even a medium-sized dog - but in some contexts rather a small puppy. And the power in Beijing, despite the name, is far from a Pekineser that we can play with in the park equally. In any case not without the help of some major jerks ...