China takes aim at Swedish activist as it ramps up ‘foreign infiltration’ propaganda
- Three years after Peter Dahlin was deported, state newspaper says he used his NGO to ‘exaggerate and fabricate’ negative news about the country
- Human rights worker dismisses allegation that the work of China Action posed a threat to national security
Beijing has highlighted an alleged espionage case involving a Swedish human rights worker more than three years after he was arrested and deported from China, as it steps up propaganda against what it calls “foreign infiltration”.
State-run newspaper People’s Daily on Friday said Swedish activist Peter Dahlin had used the Joint Development Institute (JDI) to “exaggerate and fabricate” negative news about China in human rights reports written for an overseas audience, and that it was a threat to national security.
Dahlin’s non-governmental organisation, known as China Action, was registered as JDI in Hong Kong.
The article also quoted Dahlin’s confession as saying that his NGO had helped to train and finance Chinese lawyers and petitioners, who collected negative news about China and provoked a reaction against the government. More than 10 legal assistance stations in China were used to do this, it said.
