Biography
Early life
Born inPublishing career
As the political climate in China grew milder, Gui moved to Hong Kong. There, beginning in 2006, he set up several publishing companies that focused on Chinese mainland politics. He joined the Chinese chapter ofDisappearance
Gui's colleagues last heard from him on 15 October 2015. Gui was captured on closed circuit TV leaving his apartment in Pattaya, Thailand on 17 October 2015, apparently taken away by an unknown man. He was the second bookseller associated with Causeway Bay Books to apparently vanish without trace: Lui Bo had last been seen near his home in Shenzhen on 14 October 2015; three others would also disappear in the weeks that followed. The three were reported missing in November. Lee Bo (sometimes, Paul Lee, also, Lee Po) had been informing the media of the disappearances of his other four colleagues when he himself vanished from Hong Kong on 30 December. Lee's disappearance, due to the improbability that Lee had gone to Shenzhen while his mainland travel permit was left at home, crystallised a great deal of anxiety about the pattern of bookshop disappearances and of the possibility of cross-border renditions. Lee Bo's disappearance prompted Hong Kong Chief executiveConfirmation of detention
Reaction to detention
Release from PSB custody and apparent recapture
According to Chinese officials, Gui Minhai was set free on 17 October 2017; Sweden's Foreign Ministry had received notification from the Chinese authorities that Gui had been released, "although neither his daughter nor Swedish authorities knew of his whereabouts" for a certain time afterwards. On 19 January 2018, a group of about 10 men in plain clothes boarded a train bound for Beijing and pulled Gui from the train. Gui was on his way to a medical examination in Beijing accompanied by two senior Swedish diplomats, according to his daughter, Angela. The Swedish government acknowledges the incident. In early February, Gui again appeared in a confession before reporters from pro-establishment news outlets including the ''South China Morning Post'' of Hong Kong. Gui, who had been in custody or under close surveillance for the past two years, appeared to have been freed in October 2017. He said that Sweden had sensationalised his case and tricked him into an unsuccessful attempt to leave China using a medical appointment at the Swedish embassy in Beijing as a pretext. They would supposedly wait for an opportunity to repatriate Gui to Sweden. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International denounced "this sort of contrived onfessionmade in incommunicado detention". Sweden later condemned China's "brutal intervention" in Gui's case the following week.Misinformation campaign
A study by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute which analysed the tweets of Chinese government-controlled accounts banned by Twitter in response to the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests found that the accounts also targeted Gui Minhai. Other dissidents targeted by the bot network included Guo Wengui and Yu Wensheng as well as striking PLA veterans. TheBackdoor diplomacy controversy
In February 2019, Gui's daughter Angela made a blog post documenting a "very strange experience" involving Anna Lindstedt, Sweden's ambassador to China. In it, she alleged that Lindstedt contacted her in mid-January and invited her to a meeting in Stockholm that she had set up with some Chinese businessmen who she thought could help secure her father's release. Angela recounted in her blog that the meetings were held at a private lounge in a Stockholm hotel, where she was sequestered for days, and was even escorted to and from the bathroom. The men, who claimed to have "connections within the Chinese Communist Party", apparently used a mixture of inducements, manipulation and threats on her. She was told that her father's release would be contingent on her stopping her campaign and avoiding media engagement. They offered her a Chinese visa as well as a job in the Chinese embassy. To Angela, Ambassador Lindstedt's presence and seemingly supportive stance suggested the talks were initiated by the Swedish foreign ministry. She nevertheless felt uncomfortable with the meetings. When she later made inquiries of the Swedish foreign ministry, it said it was unaware of the events. The Chinese embassy in Stockholm denied any involvement; the Swedish foreign ministry said it was not aware of the events until after the meetings had taken place. It confirmed to the press that the ambassador had been recalled, and that an internal investigation into the incident was under way. On 9 December, Lindstedt was charged by Swedish prosecutors for "arbitrariness during negotiations with a foreign power", with a possible maximum prison sentence of 2 years.2020 trial and sentence
Gui was detained for charges related to "illegal business operations", according to Chinese officials. However, it was announced on 25 February 2020 that he was tried for "illegally providing intelligence overseas", and sentenced Gui to 10 years' imprisonment. Rights groups condemned the "harsh sentence"; Amnesty International said the charges were "completely unsubstantiated" and demanded his release. Although Gui was a naturalised Swedish citizen who had renewed his passport sometime between late 2017 and mid-2018, the Ningbo Intermediate People's Court where Gui was tried said that Gui had applied to restore his Chinese citizenship in 2018 – a measure observers have described as an unprecedented move to cut off consular access. Peter Dahlin, fellow Swedish who had been made to confess on Chinese television before he was deported, commented: "the only 'state secrets' that Gui may have is knowledge about how Chinese agents kidnapped him in Thailand, and about the torture he had endured after being returned to China". Chinese officials have insisted someone like Gui is considered "a Chinese national first and foremost." Legal scholars and many overseas Chinese who have acquired foreign citizenship have expressed their great concern at the apparently selective application of Chinese nationality law that bans dual citizenship. Jerome A. Cohen andAwards
In 2018, Gui was awarded theSee also
*Bibliography
*Beijing Normal University Press, 1991 *Liaoning University Press, 1992 *China Social Sciences Press, 2006 *, 2007References
External links