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China cancels business missions to Sweden after minister awards prize to Gui Minhai

China has called off two business delegations visiting Sweden after the Scandinavian government awarded a dissident, and Swedish citizen, Gui Minhai prize, triggering counter-measures in Beijing.

China’s ambassador to Sweden, Gui Congyou, said on Thursday that two large delegations of Chinese businessmen had canceled their trip to the country.

At the beginning of December, the Chinese foreign minister said that the Chinese government had postponed the planned visit on December 10 to discuss economic treaties.

The Tucholsky award is given each year to a writer or editor in exile, threatened or persecuted. This year the Swedish culture minister, Amanda Lind, awarded Gui Minhai.

The Swedish government responded that it will not be intimidated by Chinese threats.

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Gui Minhai, born in China but a Swedish citizen, disappeared in 2015 after publishing a book on scandals involving some Chinese political leaders in Hong Kong.

A few months later he reappeared on Chinese state TV confessing to a fatal drink-driving accident from more than a decade earlier.

After spending two years in prison, he was released in October 2017, Gui was again arrested while he was accompanied by Swedish diplomats.