Chinese embassy in Sweden hits back as politicians demand ambassador ‘be sent home’

The Chinese embassy in Sweden on Sunday hit back at Swedish politicians from the country’s opposition parties after they demanded that China's ambassador “be sent home” for “threatening” a Swedish journalist for "writing critical reports about Beijing".

“In the eyes of a few Swedish politicians, the so-called freedom of speech means that only they have the freedom to lie about, discredit and attack China, while we Chinese have no room for correction or telling the truth,” a spokesperson from the embassy fired back at the smearing remarks on Sunday, according to the latest statement on the embassy’s official website.

“This is far from freedom of speech; this is their ‘dictatorship of speech!’” read the statement.

It came following the latest claims by politicians from two Swedish opposition parties, the Christian Democrats and the Sweden Democrats, who asked the Chinese ambassador Gui Congyou “to be sent home after threats against Jojje Olsson,” a freelance journalist with his latest articles on China’s actions against H&M.

The Swedish journalist wrote in late March on the local media, Expressen, that the boycott of H&M over the brand’s refusal to use Xinjiang cotton is “part of a political game, which is beginning to degenerate into a new Cold War.” Adding to such rhetoric, Olsson blasted the Chinese government, accusing it of setting up “concentration camps” and engaging in human rights violations in the region.

China respects others as long as they respect China in return, the statement noted, while reminding that “When smashing mud onto others, one’s hand would get dirty first.”

The embassy stressed that China maintains an open attitude to dialogue with Swedish people who have different views and opinions, and believes that consensus and cooperation between the two countries greatly outweigh disputes and differences.