The Swedish government has expelled a Chinese journalist, citing her as a serious threat to national security, according to reports by Swedish media on April 8.
The Chinese journalist is a 57-year-old woman who was arrested by Swedish security services in October 2023. She was expelled by the Swedish Migration Agency in November 2023. On April 4, the Swedish government rejected her appeal against deportation. She is banned from entering Sweden again for life, according to Swedish media.
The Chinese woman arrived in Sweden about 20 years ago. She held a residence permit and was married to a Swedish man, with whom she has children, according to Sweden’s national broadcaster SVT, which didn’t name the woman.
Other media outlets, such as Kinamedia and RFI, have revealed the identity of the woman as Chen Xuefei, who is the president and a journalist of the pro-CCP online Chinese-language media outlet Green Post in Sweden. She is also the president of the China-Europe Cultural Association.
Most of the articles posted on Green Post come directly from the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) official media, and Ms. Chen had allegedly received payments from the Chinese Embassy in Stockholm linked to her reporting, according to SVT.
The Swedish security services found that Ms. Chen had allegedly cooperated with a Chinese intelligence officer and had contacts with the Chinese embassy and with people in Sweden who are connected to the Chinese communist regime, according to the media.
Norwegian broadcaster NRK said that Ms. Chen had also reported from there, and from other Scandinavian countries including Denmark, Finland, and Iceland.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Stockholm said that China always requests that Chinese citizens comply with the laws of their country of residence and expects Sweden to guarantee that the rights and interests of Chinese citizens are not violated.
CCP’s Infiltration Through Local Media
Sheng Xue, a Chinese Canadian journalist, writer, and current affairs commentator, told The Epoch Times on April 9 that the Swedish authorities’ expulsion of Ms. Chen shows that Sweden is now taking the CCP’s infiltration and interference seriously because the regime’s infiltration into Sweden has reached a considerable level.Ms. Sheng said that the infiltration and manipulation of media in Western countries is a very important basis for the CCP’s infiltration. The CCP has made arrangements in the media for its global infiltration, she said.
“The main method of the CCP is to send personnel to the countries that it plans to infiltrate to pretend to be professionals in various fields, especially in the media. It has also bought many influencers and tabloids, and even some traditional mainstream media are influenced and controlled by the CCP,” she said.
“In the major democratic countries, the number of media personnel serving the CCP is not small.”
Ms. Sheng said that their practices in the host countries have become increasingly aggressive “because they see that the governments of these countries maintain ‘friendly’ contacts with the CCP and even established strategic partnerships.”
Economic Benefits Waning
Australia-based scholar Feng Chongyi told The Epoch Times on April 9 that the expulsion of the Chinese female journalist showed that Sweden’s attitude toward the CCP has changed.
Mr. Feng pointed out that the CCP’s overseas infiltration activities have become common. Sweden used to regard the Chinese agents as persons promoting friendly relations between the two countries, but now, Sweden has changed its legal and political attitude toward them and regards such behavior as a crime.
He said that Sweden’s decision serves as a wake-up call to pro-CCP Chinese citizens overseas. Other countries have also changed their stance to different degrees toward people who represent the CCP’s agenda.
Mr. Feng said that Western countries already knew about the CCP’s infiltration but were dependent on the Chinese market, attaching great importance to economic interests and reluctant to give up their interests.
“Now, China’s market is almost unprofitable, whether investing in it or trading stocks, so now the cost of taking some political actions against the CCP (if it retaliates) is not that high. So, Sweden has taken action against Ms. Chen’s criminal behavior. Many countries are in this state now,” he said.
