'Shrouded in secrecy': Sweden expels Chinese journalist

Sweden has expelled a Chinese journalist, Swedish media reported on Monday.

The reporter, a 57-year-old woman, was removed last week by Stockholm, which considered her a national security threat.

She is banned from returning.

Her lawyer, Leutrim Kadriu, told Swedish broadcaster SVT she doesn’t pose a threat.

”It is difficult for me to go into exact details given that much is shrouded in secrecy, as this is a national security matter,” said Kadriu.

The woman was arrested by Sweden's security services in October.

She has a residency permit and was married to a Swedish man, having arrived in the country two decades ago. The pair have children, according to SVT.

The woman has contacts with the Chinese Embassy and with people in Sweden connected to the government in Beijing.

She also reported from Norway and other Nordic countries, including Denmark, Finland and Iceland, reported the Norwegian broadcaster NRK.

Relations between Sweden and China have been fraught for years.

In 2018, a Swedish court sentenced a man to 22 months in jail for spying for China on Tibetans who had fled to Sweden.

Dorjee Gyantsan, a Tibetan who worked for a pro-Tibetan radio station, was found guilty of “gross illegal intelligence activity”.

In 2020, a court in eastern China sentenced Chinese-born Swedish national Gui Minhai to 10 years in prison for selling books criticising the Communist Party.

He was charged with “illegally providing intelligence overseas”.

Sweden has continually called for Gui's release - something rebuked by China.

He first disappeared in 2015, believed to have been abducted by Chinese security agents from his seaside home in Thailand.