The Chinese State is attempting to coerce the West into implementing self-censorship through recurring attacks on individuals and institutions that defend human rights in China. The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Stockholm has been notably active in its attacks on Swedish contributors to the debate. The most sensitive and triggering issues for the Chinese Embassy are human rights, followed closely by events in Hong Kong, the Xinjiang province and Tibet. The single-handedly most attacked person is the Swedish-chinese publisher Gui Minhai, who has been jailed in China since 2015.
In the latest policy brief from Stockholm Free World Forum, Patrik Oksanen describes the Chinese Communist Party’s global- and long term strategy of stifling freedom of expression through attacks couched in words and expressions intended to scare critics into silence.
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Patrik Oksanen is a Senior Fellow at the Stockholm Free World Forum. He is an author and journalist with a background as a political editor, programme anchor, reporter, project manager and head of news. Patrik Oksanen is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences.