Gui Minhai (Chinese:桂民海; pinyin:Guì Mínhǎi, formerly 桂敏海; Guì Mǐnhǎi;[2][3][4] born 5 May 1964[1]), also known as Michael Gui,[5] is a Hong Kong-Swedish book publisher and writer. He is an author of many books related to Chinese politics and Chinese political figures; Gui authored around 200 books during his ten-year career under the pen-name Ah Hai (阿海) and is one of three shareholders of Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong.
Gui went missing in Thailand in late 2015, one of five men who vanished in a string of incidents known as the Causeway Bay Books disappearances. The case ignited fears locally and in Britain over the collapse of "one country, two systems", over the possibility that people could be subject to rendition from Hong Kong and from other countries by Chinese law enforcement.[6][7] The Chinese government had been silent about holding him in custody for three months, at which point a controversial video confession was broadcast on mainland media.[8] In it, Gui said that he had returned to mainland China and surrendered to the authorities of his own volition; he appeared to indicate that he was prepared to follow the course of justice in China, while waiving protection as a Swedish citizen.[8][9][10] Gui's case has severely strained the relations between Sweden and China.[11]
Many observers expressed doubts about the sincerity and credibility of Gui's confession.[12][13][14][15]The Washington Post described the narrative as "messy and incoherent, blending possible fact with what seems like outright fiction".[16][17] Chinese state media said in late February 2016 that Gui was being held for "illegal business operations". He is alleged to have knowingly distributed books not approved by China's press and publication authority since October 2014.[18] Although Gui was released from detention in October 2017, he was once again abducted by suspected state security agents – a group of men in plain clothes – in January 2018 while on his way to Beijing for a medical visit.[19] Shortly afterwards, while under detention for breaking unspecified laws, he once again confessed, denouncing Swedish politicians for instigating him to leave the country and for "using me as chess piece".[20] Gui Minhai is still under detention in China as of December 2019,[21] and was sentenced in February 2020 to 10 years' imprisonment for "illegally providing intelligence overseas".[22][23]
Lee Bo, Gui's Hong Kong–based business partner, denied that Gui was on a "political mission against the Communist party". Instead likening him as mostly a businessman where publishing books was a means of earning money rather than ideology. “In his books there is a lot of guessing also about political gossip rather than actual fact.”
Biography
Early life
Born in Ningbo in 1964, Gui graduated from Peking University with a bachelor's degree in history in 1985.[1][24] Gui served as editor to the People's Education Press until 1988, when he departed for Sweden, and enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Gothenburg.[24] After the Tiananmen Square massacre, he obtained Swedish residency, and later became a naturalised citizen of Sweden, upon which he renounced his Chinese citizenship.[25] Gui obtained his PhD in 1996.[24] Gui's wife is also a naturalised Swedish citizen; the couple's daughter was born in 1994.[24] Gui returned to Ningbo, China in 1999 and created a subsidiary for a Swedish company known in Chinese as Tangyou (唐友), offering air purification products.[26][27] Gui was the CEO and board member.[26]
Publishing career
Causeway Bay Bookstore in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong; 3 January 2016
As the political climate in China grew milder, Gui moved to Hong Kong.[28] There, beginning in 2006, he set up several publishing companies that focused on Chinese mainland politics.[24] He joined the Chinese chapter of PEN International, through which he became acquainted with professionals in Hong Kong International PEN.[29] In 2013, Gui, Lee Bo, and Lui Bo set up Mighty Current Media[24] (also referred to as Sage Communications),[30] a Hong Kong company specialising in publishing and distributing books on political gossip about leaders in China.[24] Gui and Lee Bo both hold 34% of the company's shares (Lee Bo's shares are in the name of his wife, Sophie Choi), and Lui Bo holds the remaining 32%.[31] In 2014, the company acquired Causeway Bay Books, an upstairs bookstore in the bustling part of Hong Kong.[29]
Under the name "Ah Hai", Gui authored around 200 books during his ten-year career.[30][32] The subjects of these books included Bo Xilai, and Zhou Yongkang, who are former members of the CCP Politburo, and CCP general secretaryXi Jinping.[30] The books have been described in the Western media as "thinly-sourced, tabloid-style political books ... which are outlawed in mainland China".[30] One of Gui's books, The General Secretary's Eight Love Stories, asserts that Xi Jinping has "had a number of affairs, including one with a television presenter".[33] Lee Bo acknowledged that Gui's books contained a lot of conjecture and gossip rather than fact, and described Gui as a businessman whose publishing was motivated by profit rather than ideology.[30]
Because works critical of the leadership of the Chinese regime are considered sensitive, Gui always kept his work projects secret; he kept his movements to himself and his telephone calls were re-routed through foreign countries.[30] He went a long period without entering China; he did not visit his father when the latter was ill, and did not return to China for his father's funeral.[34] Media sources reported that Gui had published about half of the popular books written on Bo Xilai. When Bo was caught in the political fallout from the Wang Lijun incident in 2013, Gui reaped a financial benefit of HK$10million from the surge in book sales.[24] Gui's publishing financed his property acquisitions in Hong Kong and Germany, including a seaside retreat in Pattaya, Thailand.[24][30]
The International Publishers Association announced in February 2018 that Gui was the winner of the association's Publishing Freedom Award for fearless publishing in the face of adversity.[35]
Disappearance
Gui's colleagues last heard from him on 15 October 2015.[5] Gui was captured on closed circuit TV leaving his apartment in Pattaya, Thailand on 17 October 2015, apparently taken away by an unknown man.[36] 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.[37] The three were reported missing in November.[38] 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.[39] 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.[39] Lee Bo's disappearance prompted Hong Kong Chief executive CY Leung to hold a press conference on 4 January 2016 in which he stated that it would be "unacceptable" and a breach of the Basic Law if mainland Chinese law officials were operating in Hong Kong.[40][41]
Two weeks after Gui's disappearance, four men came to search his apartment – ostensibly for his computer – but left without it.[42][43][36] A manager from the estate where Gui lived attempted to contact Gui on the number of the person who called her last regarding Gui. A taxi driver answered, saying that four men had left the telephone in the taxi, and that they had wanted to go to Poipet, a border town in Cambodia.[30] Gui was last heard from on 6 November when he called his wife to tell her that he was safe but was unwilling to reveal his whereabouts.[44] The Thai authorities have no record of Gui leaving the country.[5] Gui's family contacted the Swedish embassy, and the Swedish police filed a report through Interpol. The Guardian observed that the Thai government had done little to advance the case, noting that the military junta was becoming increasingly accommodating to Chinese demands.[30]
Confirmation of detention
Xinhua News Agency published an article on 17 January 2016 stating that an individual by the name of Gui Minhai had been detained relating to a fatal traffic accident in December 2003 in which a schoolgirl died.[45][46] It is likely he was held under Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location.[47] Xinhua alleged that Gui Minhai (桂敏海), with a different but identical-sounding middle character with respect to Gui Minhai the publisher, had fled abroad under the guise of a tourist in November 2004 using a borrowed identity card following the court case; his stated age was 46 years in 2005 – a discrepancy of five years compared with the details in Gui's Swedish passport. The two discrepancies created doubts that there may have been a case of mistaken identity.[9][12][48] Xinhua claimed that Gui gave himself up to public security officials in October 2015.[8][10] Contrary to Xinhua's claims, news reports from 2004 about the court proceedings from the traffic accident did not suggest Gui intended to abscond, instead he expressed a willingness to assume "full responsibility" in the form of economic compensation. Gui was given a probationary sentence at that time.[49]
A video confession which was released at the same time and broadcast on China Central Television confirmed Gui's identity. In the 10-minute exclusive video, a tearful Gui expressed his remorse over a killing charge that he had absconded from a decade earlier. He said that his return to mainland China and his surrender were "my personal choice and had nothing to do with anyone else. I should shoulder my responsibility and I don't want any individual or institutions to interfere, or viciously hype up my return". Gui also said, "Although I have Swedish citizenship, I truly feel that I am still Chinese – my roots are in China. So I hope Sweden can respect my personal choice, respect my rights and privacy of my personal choice and allow me to resolve my own problems". Criminal investigations on other charges were said to be in progress.[8][9][10][12] It was only on 19 January, when fellow Swedish citizen Peter Dahlin, cofounder of an NGO providing legal training for local lawyers in China, appeared on television, confessing to having violated Chinese law and "caused harm to the Chinese government [and] hurt the feelings of the Chinese people", that it came to international attention that Gui had also confessed on television; Dahlin was subsequently deported.[6]Reporters Without Borders condemned China's forced confessions, and urged the EU to sanction CCTV and Xinhua for "knowingly peddling lies and statements presumably obtained under duress".[50] Lee Bo's letter to his wife on 17 January said that he had voluntarily gone to the mainland to assist Chinese law enforcement in an investigation that involved Gui. He denounced Gui as "a morally unacceptable person" who had got him into trouble with the authorities.[51][9]
Gui's confession was received with incredulity, and many of the facts surrounding his disappearance from Thailand, including the release of the video three months after his disappearance, were called into question.[12][13] The president of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Jasper Tsang, said: "the China Central Television (CCTV) report [and broadcast of Gui Minghau's confession] did not seem to be able to calm the public. As the case drags on, there will be more speculation".[14] Human Rights Watch was quoted as saying: "Given that Gui has been held nearly three months incommunicado, in a secret location, and without a lawyer, his confession on state-controlled TV lacks credibility".[15]The Washington Post said: "The narrative seems messy and incoherent, blending possible fact with what seems like outright fiction. It feels illogical, absurd even".[16][17] Amnesty International's China researcher cast doubt on the narrative, asking: "Why would four other employees of a company need to go missing in order to assist with a regular criminal case? How could other missing or otherwise investigated colleagues of Gui Minhai have any connection to the case?"[52]The Guardian drew a connection to Operation Fox Hunt, a Chinese government campaign launched by Xi Jinping in 2014 to repatriate corrupt officials or opponents of the regime who had fled abroad, and which may also have been responsible for the abduction of the other missing booksellers.[30] By mid-June 2016, Gui's family had not yet received official confirmation that he was under detention, according to Gui's daughter.[53]
Reaction to detention
Artist Kacey Wong protesting against the Causeway Bay booksellers disappearances. The sign in his hand says "Hostage is well". 10 February 2016
Bei Ling, a personal friend of Gui and president of Independent Chinese PEN, said that Gui had not given himself up voluntarily but had in fact been abducted.[54] He confirmed that there had indeed been a drink-driving case involving Gui in which a young woman was killed but that the accident and his disappearance were unrelated.[51][9] Bei asserted that there was no official record of Gui's departure from Thailand, and that international law had been violated by Gui's kidnapping.[54] He speculated that the abductors had returned to Gui's apartment to retrieve his passport, and that Gui may have been sent to China from Cambodia on a plane loaded with Chinese deportees.[30] Gui's daughter Angela had been notified of her father's disappearance in an email from Lee Bo dated 10 November in which Lee said he feared Gui had been taken to China "for political reasons".[5] Angela dismissed the assertion that her father had returned to the mainland voluntarily.[8][14]
Sweden has repeatedly requested transparency from China, and summoned the Thai ambassador for information in December.[8] After the appearance of the video confession, the Swedish foreign ministry reported that a Swedish envoy was finally allowed to visit Gui.[55][56] In January 2016, Swedish foreign minister Margot Wallström condemned the forced confessions of Dahlin and Gui (who are both Swedish citizens) on Chinese television, terming them "unacceptable". The Chinese government has said that Gui was first and foremost a Chinese subject, and the Swedish government seems to have quietly accepted this position. The Swedish diplomatic effort has been through consular channels and has been low-profile.[57]
In late February 2016, state media appeared to clarify the charges against Gui, saying that Gui was being held for "illegal business operations". He is alleged to have knowingly distributed books not approved by China's press and publication authority – according to the charges, some 4,000 such books had been sent by post disguised as different books to 380 buyers in 28 cities in mainland China since October 2014.[18] Also in early February, the European Parliament issued a statement asking for Gui, Lee Bo, and their three colleagues at Causeway Bay Books to be released immediately. In his report on Hong Kong for the second half of 2015, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond expressed concern about the Causeway Bay Books disappearances, and said in particular that the abduction of Gui's colleague Lee Bo, a British citizen, from Hong Kong was "a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong and undermines the principle of one country, two systems".[7]
Gui's detention was discussed at the US Congressional-Executive Committee on China in May.[57] In September, Angela spoke before the United Nations Human Rights Council, and also made an emotional plea on behalf of her father on Swedish television, an appearance which prompted another public statement by Wallström on the detention. The Swedish government, which said that they had been involved in "quiet diplomacy" with the Chinese regime, secured a second audience with Gui after 11 months of detention.[57]
A year after Gui's disappearance, there was a general consensus among commentators that the five booksellers had been abducted by Chinese authorities.[58]As of October2016[update], Gui has spent a year in detention, while the other four men were released in early March 2016.[59][60] One colleague, Lam Wing-kee, gave an interview that received significant media coverage in which he spoke in great detail about his abduction and his months in detention by mainland law enforcement in Ningbo and subsequently Shaoguan. Their other colleagues have remained low profile and refused comment.[61]
In June 2017, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven talked to Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a state visit about the case of Gui Minhai.[62]
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.[63] 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.[19] 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 [confession] made in incommunicado detention". Sweden later condemned China's "brutal intervention" in Gui's case the following week.[64]
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. The misinformation campaign ran from 23 January to 23 February 2018. 23 January was the day news broke that Gui had been seized off a train.[65][66]
Backdoor 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.[67]
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.[67] 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.[67]
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.[67][68][69] 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.[70]
2020 trial and sentence
Gui was detained for charges related to "illegal business operations", according to Chinese officials.[71] However, it was announced on 25 February 2020 that he was tried for "illegally providing intelligence overseas", and sentenced Gui to 10 years' imprisonment.[22] Rights groups condemned the "harsh sentence"; Amnesty International said the charges were "completely unsubstantiated" and demanded his release.[22]
Although Gui was a naturalised Swedish citizen who had renewed his passport sometime between late 2017 and mid-2018,[72] 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.[71][72][73] 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".[23] 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.[74]Jerome A. Cohen and Donald C. Clarke, both respected legal scholars on China, said the use against a former Chinese citizen was in breach of Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and the move could foretell its use on any non-ethnic Chinese critic if they so please.[73]
The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs declared that Gui was still a citizen due to the fact that "Swedish citizenship can only be renounced after an examination and a decision by the Swedish Migration Agency".[23] Sweden, which had been denied access to the trial, demanded that Gui be "released and that we have access to our citizens to provide consular support".[22][75] The Chinese foreign ministry said consular arrangements were on hold, and would be restored once the coronavirus epidemic was "resolved".[22] Willy Lam, senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, said: "At a time of national emergency, when parts of China have fallen under virtual martial law, authorities think they can do whatever they want."[72]
The EU said "There are serious questions to be answered about this case. His rights, including inter alia to consular access and due process, have not been respected".[71] Specifically referring to Gui as a "Swedish citizen", the United States demanded his immediate and unconditional release. US State Department said: "We will continue to stand with our partners and allies to promote greater respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in China".[76]
In 2019, Gui was awarded the Tucholsky Prize by the Swedish PEN (Svenska PEN).[78] The Chinese Embassy in Sweden decried the award to "a criminal that committed serious crimes in both China and Sweden", and threatened "bad consequences". The embassy also objected to the attendance of Culture Minister Amanda Lind at the ceremony, saying that Lind would be persona non grata in China if she attended.[79] Since then, the Chinese government has imposed an unofficial ban on the export of graphite to Sweden.[80]
"One country, two systems" is a constitutional principle of the People's Republic of China (PRC), describing the governance of its special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is a national law of China that serves as the organic law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Comprising nine chapters, 160 articles and three annexes, the Basic Law was composed to implement Annex I of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration.
The South China Morning Post (SCMP), with its Sunday edition, the Sunday Morning Post, is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained Hong Kong's newspaper of record since British colonial rule. Editor-in-chief Tammy Tam succeeded Wang Xiangwei in 2016. The SCMP prints paper editions in Hong Kong and operates an online news website that is blocked in mainland China.
In Hong Kong, censorship, which refers to the suppression of speech or other public communication, raises issues regarding the freedom of speech. By law, censorship is usually practised against the distribution of certain materials, particularly child pornography, obscene images, sedition, separatism, state secrets, and reports on court cases which may lead to unfair trial.
China–Sweden relations are the bilateral relations between China and Sweden. Sweden was the second Western country to establish official diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, on 9 May 1950.
Bei Ling is a Chinese poet, and journal editor. He is usually associated with the Chinese misty poets.
The administration of Leung Chun-ying as Chief Executive of Hong Kong, officially referred to as "The 4th term Chief Executive of Hong Kong" relates to the period of governance of Hong Kong since the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, between 1 July 2012 and 30 June 2017.
Ng Leung-sing is a former member of the Provisional Legislative Council and Legislative Council of Hong Kong for the Election Committee constituency and the Finance functional constituency from 1997 to 2004 and 2012 to 2016. He was also the Vice-chairman of the China & South Sea Bank Limited. He supported Leung Chun-ying in the 2012 Chief Executive race and is seen as an ally of CY Leung in the Legislative Council.
Book censorship in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is mandated by the PRC's ruling party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and is currently widespread in China. Enforcement is strict and sometimes inconsistent. Punishment for violations can be arbitrary many times leading to long sentences for crimes against censorship laws.
Causeway Bay Books is an independent bookstore in Taipei, Taiwan, which until December 2015 was an upstairs bookstore located in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. The first bookstore in Hong Kong was popular with tourists from mainland China looking for books on Chinese politics and politicians which were not available in mainland China. In late 2015, five people associated with the store disappeared, sparking international concern. The first bookstore closed after the disappearance of its last staff member, Lee Bo, in December 2015. A second version of the bookstore was opened in Taipei, Taiwan in April 2020 by Lam Wing-kee, the founder of the original Hong Kong store and one of the five people who disappeared.
The Causeway Bay Books disappearances are a series of international disappearances concerning five staff members of Causeway Bay Books, a former bookstore located in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Between October and December 2015, five staff of Causeway Bay Books went missing. At least two of them disappeared in mainland China, one in Thailand. One member was last seen in Hong Kong, and eventually revealed to be in Shenzhen, across the Chinese border, without the travel documents necessary to have crossed the border through legal channels.
Lam Wing-kee is a Hong Kong businessman and book seller. He is the owner of Causeway Bay Books in Taipei, a book store first located in Causeway Bay in Hong Kong and most well known for its provision of politically related publications. In late 2015, he went missing along with four other staff members of the book store, sparking international concern.
Li Xin (李新) formerly a website editor for a Chinese media group called Southern Metropolis Daily, is a pro-democracy campaigner and rights activist. Li disappeared on a train from Bangkok to the northeastern border town of Nong Khai in Thailand on 11 January 2016 after he leaked confidential documents detailing Communist Party propaganda efforts. About a month later, He Fangmei, Li's wife, said she received a phone call from Li on 3 February, and was told that he had voluntarily come back to Mainland China to meet with investigators.
Hong Kong–Thailand relations are bilateral relations between Hong Kong and Thailand.
The founding cause of the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests was the proposed legislation of the 2019 Hong Kong extradition bill. However, other causes have been pointed out, such as demands for democratic reform, the Causeway Bay Books disappearances, or a general fear of losing a "high degree of autonomy". The Hong Kong protests are unique in this respect from democracy protests in general, which are often provoked by economic grievances. Subsequent actions by the police, such as mass arrests and police violence, as well as what was perceived to be an illegitimate legislative process of the bill, sparked additional protests throughout the city.
Anna Kerstin Erica Lindstedt was the Swedish Ambassador to Beijing from 2016 to early 2019.
Gui Congyou is a Chinese diplomat who served as the Chinese Ambassador to Sweden until his resignation in September 2021.
Gui is a Chinese surname.
Simon Cheng Man-kit is a Hong Kong activist. He was formerly a trade and investment officer at the British Consulate-General in Hong Kong. Cheng was detained by Chinese authorities in August 2019 in West Kowloon station when he returned from a business trip in Shenzhen. While the Chinese authorities stated that he was arrested for "soliciting prostitutes", Cheng denied the accusation and alleged that Chinese agents tortured him in an attempt to make him confess that he was a British spy who was involved in instigating the 2019 Hong Kong protests. Cheng subsequently fled to London and was granted asylum in June 2020.
References
1 2 3 "Gui Minhai". Independent Chinese PEN Center. Archived from the original on 6 November 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
↑ 馬朝陽, ed. (1987). 中国当代校园诗人诗选 (in Chinese). 北京師範大學五四文學社. pp.205–206. In this poetry selection is a poem by "Ah Hai" from Peking University (阿海（北京大學）), enrolled in 1981 (一九八一級), with an author profile at the end of the poem, which stated that he was born in 1964, his hometown is Ningbo, Zhejiang, he had graduated from the Department of History at Peking University in 1985, and his Chinese name is 桂敏海 (Guì Mǐnhǎi). This shows that his original Chinese name is 桂敏海 (Guì Mǐnhǎi), not 桂民海 (Guì Mínhǎi). A scan of the pageArchived 25 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine is here.
↑ 周代 (1994). 雀巢集 (in Chinese). 長江文藝出版社. pp.215–218. A prose of Zhou Dai in 1992 on his son's friend "Ah Hai" in Sweden said that "Ah Hai", born in Ningbo in 1964 and a Class of 1985 graduate of Peking University, was doing his PhD in University of Gothenburg, was an assistant researcher at Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, and his Chinese name is 桂敏海 (Guì Mǐnhǎi) A scan of the pageArchived 25 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine is here.
1 2 "我們與寧波共繁榮——首屆在甬外商投資企業家論壇發言選載". 寧波通訊 (in Chinese) (1): 26–28. 2001. 創業之路在故鄉－唐友環保工程（寧波）有限公司董事長兼總經理桂敏海：我生在寧波，長在寧波，是個地道的寧波人。雖然我離開寧波將近20年了，但是當我決定在環保科技領域內投資創業的時候，毫無疑慮地回到了寧波，在自己的故鄉走上了一條創業之路。……這一點，歐洲人反而重視，我在瑞典時就給很多瑞典企業講過跨文化交流的課A scan of the pageArchived 24 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine is here.
↑ 国家环境保护局污染控制司 (2004). 工程技术实例与配套技术产品设备 (in Chinese). 中国环境科学出版社. p.449. 唐友環保工程（寧波）有限公司企業簡介：1990年，為了擴大生產能力，降低生產成本，唐友公司將工廠從瑞典的哥德堡遷往前捷克斯洛伐克（今天的斯洛伐克共和國）。今天，唐友公司在整個世界的同類公司中，生產的設備和產品種類最為齊全，品種多樣，尤其是在清除工業靜電、淨化大型建築室內空氣和解決機動車輛尾氣污染等領域，無論是理念、技術還是節能方面，均十分先進，並擁有一支始終在環境保護領域前列的科研隊伍。同時就充分保證了我們在環境保護領域中，始終保持世界領先地位。
↑ "不理會央視桂民海片段 瑞典政府堅持尋真相"[Ignoring the CCTV confession, the Swedish Government insists on the truth]. Apple Daily (in Chinese). 19 January 2016. Archived from the original on 22 March 2017.
↑ 洛秋心; 蘇文華 (10 November 2015). "香港禁書書店老闆「被消失」奇案"[The strange case of bookstore 'disappearances']. The Initium (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 26 March 2017. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
↑ "桂民海發神秘訊息予女 員工料失蹤或因新書"[Gui Minhai's mysterious SMS to daughter; colleagues fear disappearance linked to new book]. Oriental Daily News (in Chinese). 14 November 2015. Archived from the original on 18 January 2016. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
↑ "【書店5人失蹤】巨流傳媒瑞典籍股東桂民海疑泰國失蹤 瑞典外交部：嚴正看待"[Book shop missing 5: Disappearance of Swedish national Gui Minhai in Thailand – Sweden gravely concerned]. Ming Pao (in Chinese). 5 January 2016. Archived from the original on 28 May 2024. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
1 2 "香港铜锣湾书店案：瑞典寻求中国澄清桂民海下落"[Causeway Bay Books case: Sweden seeks clarification on whereabouts of Gui Minhai] (in Chinese). BBC. 18 January 2016. Archived from the original on 22 January 2016. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
↑ Elise Thomas & Dr Jacob Wallis, Tom Uren. "Tweeting through the Great Firewall". aspi.org.au. Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Archived from the original on 14 October 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
↑ McCarthy, Simone (3 September 2019). "Before the Hong Kong protests, banned Twitter accounts 'targeted Chinese government critics'". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019. ... groups of these accounts have worked together to question the character or motivations of figures like human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng who was detained after his call for constitutional reform, and Gui, who published gossipy books about Chinese political leaders ... 'We are seeing similar approaches to the way in which China's domestic internet is moderated through a state-mandated flooding and shaping of sentiment,' Wallis said of the Twitter account activity. 'But that [approach] doesn't work in an internet environment that is completely unbounded. The messaging can't get the same traction and there's too much other noise.'
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