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SWEDEN-CHINA-DIPLOMACY
China complains to Sweden as tourists ‘brutally’ ejected from hotel
BEIJING, Sept 17, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – China has lodged a diplomatic complaint
accusing Swedish police of treating Chinese tourists “brutally” after a
family was roughly ejected from a Stockholm hotel, the foreign ministry said
Monday.
The spat began earlier this month when the family of three — a man and his
elderly parents — tried to sleep in a Stockholm hotel lobby after arriving
early for their reservation, but the hotel’s employees refused to allow them.
Widely-shared video footage shows a Chinese man being carried out of a
building by two police officers as someone in the background yells in
protest. An older Chinese woman is seen sat on the ground outside next to her
luggage.
The family claim police left them in the cold at a cemetery several
kilometres (miles) away from the hotel.
The incident escalated over the weekend, with both foreign ministries
wading in.
The Chinese embassy in Sweden and foreign ministry “lodged representation
with the Swedish side, urging the Swedish side to investigate this case, to
respond promptly to the reasonable request of the Chinese tourists,” foreign
ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at a regular press briefing on
Monday.
His Swedish counterpart Patric Nilsson said Stockholm and Beijing are
conducting a dialogue on “various aspects of our relationship”.
Swedish authorities on Monday said there was no police wrongdoing, calling
it an “ordinary police procedure”.
The hotel’s manager told Swedish daily Aftonbladet that the Zeng family had
threatened staff, who then called the police.
Chinese media have also weighed in, with state-run CCTV calling the police
action “appalling”.
“The rude treatment the foreign tourists got in a developed country that
claimed to be civilised and a torchbearer of human rights is indeed shocking
and unacceptable,” it wrote in an editorial.
The spat comes after the Dalai Lama’s visit to Sweden last week.
Seen as a thorn in China’s side, the 83-year-old travels the world
advocating peace and greater autonomy for Tibet.
Relations between Beijing and Stockholm have also been tense following the
detention of publisher Gui Minhai, a Chinese-born Swede who vanished into
Chinese custody in January under murky circumstances.
Asked if the recent escalation has to do with Gui’s case, Geng said China’s
position on the case is “unchanged”.
Social media has been split over the fracas, with some calling on the
family to reflect on their actions.
“After the police arrived, as a fully-functioning person, how did you
communicate that led to you and your elderly father getting carried out of
the hotel?” wrote one user on the Twitter-like Weibo.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1757 hrs