Exactly ten years ago, Gui Minhai, a Swedish publisher and founder of a Hong Kong publishing house, was kidnapped in Thailand. On October 17, 2015, Chinese state agents took him away from his vacation home. It was supposed to be a short trip. Instead, Gui would never return to Hong Kong or to his family in Sweden.
In 2020, a full five years after his disappearance, Gui was sentenced to 10 years in prison on bogus charges. His current whereabouts and health status are unknown; it’s not even certain that he is still alive. Chinese authorities have consistently denied access both to his only daughter and to Swedish consular support.
Gui’s tragic fate is one of the grimmest stories of China’s transnational repression. It shows how effortlessly the Chinese regime can operate in third countries. It is a stark reminder that China’s repression of press freedom defenders reaches far beyond its borders. The regime is watching – and it has the ability, with total impunity, to abduct a European citizen.
The case also marks our collective failure, exposing the weaknesses of democracies that did not act strongly enough in defense of their own citizens.
Under Xi Jinping’s leadership, China has become an almost totalitarian state. Today, there is no space for criticism. Journalists and publishers who dare to report independently on Chinese Communist Party atrocities and corruption are detained, disappeared, or harassed. As with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, many are left to die in prisons notorious for appalling conditions, mistreatment, and torture.
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), 120 journalists are currently detained by the regime, making China the world’s largest jailer of journalists. The country ranks 178th out of 180 in RSF’s Press Freedom Index – just ahead of North Korea.
The great leap backwards for journalism in China is all the more alarming given that the CCP’s ambitions do not stop at its own borders. While suffocating its own population, Xi’s regime is also turning its eyes outward. It wields immense financial and technological resources to export its authoritarian information model far beyond China. And it does so openly – while democracies look away, citing economic dependence as excuses for inaction.
One part of Gui Minhai’s story is especially striking. After his disappearance, he was not seen again until three months later, when he appeared in a forced TV confession in China. One of the broadcasters, state-run CGTN, aired the coerced confession of an EU citizen. Yet to this day, CGTN still operates freely in Europe, continuing to spread propaganda.
At RSF, we believe this should not be the case. The opening of the media market in Europe must be based solely on reciprocity. If China censors and refuses to allow independent journalism within its borders, Europe should also close its market to Chinese media – especially those controlled by the CCP. As Xi himself has declared, the role of media outlets is only to “serve the Party.” How can Europe continue to allow propaganda and disinformation to spread so freely, without oversight?
Ten years is far too late, but there is still time to act – and Sweden, France, and all EU member states must do so now. The Chinese regime must be pressured to immediately release Gui Minhai, and the EU must make it clear that refusal will carry serious political consequences for bilateral relations. Any economic collaboration should be strictly conditioned on his release. This is not a dream but a reality – something that can be achieved, as demonstrated by the release of Australian journalist Cheng Lei just two years ago.
As long as Gui Minhai remain imprisoned in China, Europe is not only failing one of its own citizens. It is failing all journalists who are – or could become – victims of China’s long arm of transnational repression. Without Gui’s release, we risk failing the very foundations of our democracies.