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Pensioner indicted over China spy scandal

A 61-year-old pensioner has been indicted in Stockholm on charges of spying on behalf of the Chinese government.

Published: 15 December 2009 15:37 CET

Charges filed by prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand accuse the Mandarin-speaking Swedish citizen of illegally gathering intelligence on people of Uighur origin living in Sweden.

Intelligence agency Säpo arrested the suspect on June 4th after a lengthy investigation and surveillance period for allegedly gathering information on Sweden’s 100-strong Uighur community.

The suspect came to Sweden as a political refugee in the 1990s. If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison.

According to the indictment, the 61-year-old passed on information to two handlers about members of Uighur clubs and associations in Sweden, Norway, Germany and the United States.

His handlers consisted of a diplomat attached to the Chinese embassy in Stockholm and a Chinese journalist, both of whom were tasked by Chinese intelligence services with securing details in Sweden about the interpersonal relationships of Uighurs.

The Swedish government expelled a Chinese diplomat earlier this year following revelations that the Chinese embassy was allegedly involved in spying on political refugees residing in Sweden.

According to the indictment, the suspect reported extensively on activity within the World Uyghur Congress (an umbrella organization for exiled Uighur groups), relayed notes taken during meetings with members of the Uighur community, and provided details of the local Uighur leaders’ levels of political access.

By befriending his targets and pretending to sympathize with them, he was also able to supply his handlers with details on the political asylum status of people of particular interest to the Chinese authorities, as well as information about their health, current whereabouts, travel patterns and telephone numbers.

The suspect’s intelligence gathering operation earned him rewards in the form of money and services, and spanned the period from January 2008 to June 2009.

Prosecutors said the crimes of which he was accused were of an aggravated nature as they were systematic, had been undertaken in a professional manner for a long period of time and could potentially cause serious damage to a large number of people.

Most ethnic Uighurs live in China’s Xinjiang autonomous region. China regularly condemns militant Uighur nationalists as “terrorists” and accuses the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) of carrying out attacks.

A recent US State Department human rights report accuses China of having stepped up repression of the Uighur community.

Paul O’Mahony/AFP

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CHINA

China derides Copenhagen democracy meet as ‘political farce’

China on Tuesday blasted a democracy conference in Copenhagen attended by Taiwan's president and a Hong Kong activist alongside Danish government officials this week, qualifying it a "political farce".

Published: 11 May 2021 13:30 CEST
China derides Copenhagen democracy meet as 'political farce'
Demonstrators gathered outside the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday. Photo: Emil Helms/Ritzau Scanpix

The Copenhagen Democracy Summit was held Monday and Tuesday in the Danish capital and organised by the Alliance of Democracies, an organisation targeted by Beijing sanctions in March and founded by former NATO boss Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

In addition to Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod also participated in the forum by video link, which Beijing said violated “the one-China principle.”

“This summit is a political farce,” the Chinese embassy in Denmark wrote in a statement published on Tuesday. “Inviting those who advocate Taiwan and Hong Kong ‘independence’ to the meeting violates the one-China principle and interferes in China’s internal affairs,” it said.

“Some hypocritical western politicians are good at meddling in other countries’ internal affairs and creating divisions and confrontation in the name of ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’. They are bound to fail,” it added.

At the conference on Monday, Kofod said it was “deplorable” that Beijing had imposed sanctions on 10 European individuals and organisations in response to EU sanctions on Xinjiang officials over their actions against the Uyghur Muslim minority.

Like most countries, Denmark applies the one-China principle — under which Beijing bars other countries from having simultaneous diplomatic relations with Taipei — though it does maintain relations with Taiwan.

Cut off politically from the rest of China since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the territory is self-governing but is not recognised by
the United Nations.

Beijing considers Taiwan a rebel province that will one day return under its control, by force if necessary.

China’s sabre-rattling has increased considerably over the past year, with fighter jets and nuclear-capable bombers breaching Taiwan’s air defence zone on a near-daily basis.

“Our government is fully aware of the threats to regional security, and is actively enhancing our national defence capabilities to protect our
democracy,” Tsai told the conference in a video address on Monday. US President Joe Biden is expected to present his China strategy soon, as
calls mount for him to publicly commit to defending Taiwan militarily in the event of a Chinese attack.

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