Update | Sweden hits back at China over snatching of bookseller Gui Minhai, embraces right to support its ailing citizen
Swedish foreign minister, dismissing insinuation of breach of law, accuses Beijing of ignoring ‘basic international rules’
Sweden’s foreign minister has hit back at China, saying the Scandinavian nation has a right to support its citizen and former Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai who was snatched from a Beijing-bound train under the eyes of two Swedish diplomatic staff.
In a strongly worded statement, Margot Wallström said Gui “was at the time of his arrest in the company of diplomatic staff, who were providing consular help to a Swedish citizen in need of medical care.
“This was perfectly in line with basic international rules giving us the right to provide our citizens with consular support.”
Sweden has taken a “very serious view” of Gui’s arrest, the statement said.
Gui, one of five people associated with a bookshop that had released books critical of Beijing in 2015, reportedly had shown symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which attacks the brain and spinal cord.
He was taken away by mainland Chinese authorities in front of the Swedish diplomats while riding a train back to Beijing for health checks, his daughter told the South China Morning Post.
