Ex-Swedish envoy on trial for alleged contacts with China

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden’s former ambassador to China has gone on trial for alleged unauthorized contacts with a foreign power. The envoy, Anna Lindstedt, organized a meeting in Stockholm last year between the daughter of a Swedish publisher detained in China, Beijing’s ambassador and two Chinese businessmen about the possible release of the publisher. It reportedly was first time in over 200 years that a Swedish diplomat faces such an accusation. Lindstedt who could face up to two years in jail, has denied breaking the law. She says she told the Foreign Ministry about the meeting. The publisher’s daughter says the businessmen said her father would be released if she stopped criticizing China’s handling of his case.