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Sweden decided to continue building its own 5G network without Huawei, despite protests from the company and the Chinese government, while relations between Beijing and Stockholm deteriorate every day due to criticism of continued human rights violations. in China.
The decision is in line with the latest public opinion polls in Sweden, which has some of the most negative views of China in Europe, according to the South China Morning newspaper.
The Swedish Post and Telecommunications Authority (PTS) said it would resume auctions for next-generation communications next month, after an appeals court upheld the decision, in October, to ban Huawei and Chinese ZTE from its network. for security reasons.
Huawei, which has opposed the ban, said its battle is far from over.
While a court spokesman said: “There are ongoing legal proceedings and I think everyone should wait and see.”
Last month, Burg Eckholm, chief executive of the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson, told the Financial Times that he was against the ban, arguing that it undermined competition.
In response to the Court of Appeal’s decision to uphold the ban, China’s Ambassador to Stockholm Joy Kongyu said he still hoped Sweden would provide a “non-discriminatory” business environment for Chinese companies and rejected the security concerns of Sweden.
“We urge the Swedish side to correct this wrong and unfounded decision immediately,” Gueye said in an interview with the Swedish newspaper “Expressen”.
He continued: “We should not talk about democracy, justice and the rule of law, while targeting others.”
But democracy and human rights are the most pressing issues for Swedish citizens in their country’s relations with China, according to the latest survey data.
In a poll conducted in September and October, 82 percent were in favor of promoting human rights and democratic reform in China as one of the top political priorities.
Only 20 percent said China should be involved in building 5G infrastructure in Sweden.
The results were released last month by the Swedish Institute for International Affairs (UI) as part of a survey of 13 European countries conducted by research institutes across the continent.
The director of the Asia Program at the Swedish Institute for International Affairs and co-author of the report, Björn Girden, said the Chinese government will have to act on issues of concern to the Swedes before opinion starts to change.
“Even if the bilateral relations improve with regard to economic matters, we should expect the opinions to be negative,” he added.
On the occasion of Human Rights Day on December 10, the European Union delegation in Beijing called on China to release human rights defenders, including the Swedish citizen Gui Minhai.
Sweden has called for the release of his hometown, which was a Hong Kong-based bookseller, whom Beijing accuses of selling politically sensitive publications on Chinese leadership.
Since being detained by China for the second time in 2018 while on his way to Beijing under the escort of Swedish diplomats, this year Guei was sentenced to 10 years in prison for “illegally providing intelligence information abroad.”
