The Foreign Ministry called on China's ambassador after the sanctions

Foreign Minister Ann Linde (SocDem) issued a directive on this, as she is in Brussels.

- On my behalf, the Cabinet Secretary (Robert Rydberg) has called the ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today to simply express Sweden's strong dissatisfaction with the Chinese government's actions, Linde tells TT.

- It is a significant escalation and of course completely unacceptable.

Highlighted about Xinjiang

EU sanctions, to which China was a response, were imposed in response to China's human rights abuses in Xinjiang province, where large numbers of people, especially from China's Muslim minority groups, have been detained.

Cabinet Secretary Rydberg is also said to have emphasized "Sweden and the EU's strong commitment to human rights in Xinjiang", according to Linde.

The Foreign Minister does not want to go further into what Ambassador Gui replied.

- But I can say as much as that they have not clarified any grounds for why they have chosen these particular people, she says.

"Lies and misinformation"

China has targeted sanctions against EU parliamentarians, EU institutions, researchers and non-profit organizations.

The country's foreign ministry refers to the fact that they deliberately spread "lies and misinformation" about the country.

Björn Jerdén researches at the Foreign Policy Institute and leads its newly established national knowledge center on China.

The sanctions mean, among other things, that he will not be able to visit China.

In an interview with TT, he says that he was surprised that China targeted him personally, but not by the country's method.

"We have seen a development where it has become difficult to research China without encountering criticism from the Chinese state," he told TT.

The experienced sinologist Torbjörn Lodén, professor emeritus at Stockholm University, was also surprised by China's choice of target.

- I do not know that sanctions have been directed at individual researchers in that way, in response to sanctions from a state or the EU.

Many researchers are banned from entering China, but not as a result of something like this, he told TT on Monday.