Gui Minhai, who specialised in gossipy books, was arrested while being taken by diplomats to embassy in Beijing

The daughter of a Swedish bookseller who was seized by Chinese agents while travelling with two European diplomats has said she fears her father is facing years behind bars after police claimed he was involved in “trafficking state secrets”.



Gui Minhai, a 53-year-old Hong Kong publisher who had specialised in gossipy books about China’s political elite, was taken from a Beijing-bound train on the morning of 20 January as he attempted to reach the Swedish embassy for a medical examination.

Sweden’s foreign minister this week attacked China’s “brutal intervention” while Germany’s ambassador to Beijing denounced what he called the unprecedented treatment of an EU citizen. “There is a widespread fear that these violations of international laws … could happen to other EU citizens in the future,” Michael Clauss warned.

Angela Gui, the publisher’s daughter, told the Guardian: “I just hope there will be an update soon. But I have to say that at this point I’m not very optimistic that we’ll have any sort of good news any time soon.”

Mystery continues to surround the politically charged and increasingly surreal saga of Gui Minhai, which began back in October 2015 when he vanished from his holiday home in Thailand.

Gui subsequently reappeared in custody in mainland China, making what supporters condemned as a forced confession to involvement in a fatal hit-and-run incident in 2003. Four other booksellers, including one British citizen, were also seized leading to criticism from politicians in the UK, including then foreign secretary Philip Hammond.



Gui, who became a Swedish citizen in 1992, had seemed close to release last autumn when it emerged he was living under surveillance in the eastern port city of Ningbo. However, those hopes were dashed when he was apprehended for the second time. His current whereabouts are unknown.

The Guardian understands that on the day Gui Minhai was taken, Sweden’s ambassador to China, Anna Lindstedt, went to China’s foreign ministry seeking answers. Swedish diplomats were referred to police in Ningbo who confirmed the bookseller was in detention and suspected of trafficking in state secrets.

Angela Gui said: “There is no way that he would know any state secrets that wouldn’t have anything directly to do with his case. He was in incommunicado detention for two years. So who would have told him these state secrets?”

“I can only guess that it might have something to do with what happened when he was taken the first time. And that whoever ordered this didn’t want this to come out,” she added.

China has dismissed criticism of its treatment of Gui, who supporters say was seeking medical treatment in Beijing because of fears he was suffering from a rare neurological disease.



“The Swedish side should know the case is serious in nature and some Swedish people have played an irresponsible role in this,” foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, told reporters, warning further criticism could damage bilateral relations.



On Thursday an editorial in the Communist party-run tabloid, the Global Times, accused Sweden and Germany of “rudely provoking China’s judicial sovereignty” and claimed both countries should be ashamed of their “imperialist” meddling.

Angela Gui urged more western governments to confront Beijing over her father’s plight. “It’s important to be vocal and public about this and really I would have wished that this would have happened since the very beginning when he was taken 2015. I can’t help but wonder if the international community had been more vocal back then, if we would have this situation today.”



“Nobody knows what is going to happen now. But if China is claiming he committed all these crimes, and if they are not backing down on that, that suggests there’s going to be a trial. And I expect that if there is indeed a trial he will probably get a very long sentence because of the nature of the crimes he is suspected of.”