China on Friday threatened "counter-measures" against Sweden if the country's culture minister awards a Swedish PEN rights prize as planned to detained Chinese-Swedish book publisher Gui Minhai.
"China resolutely opposes Swedish PEN awarding a criminal and lie-fabricator... We oppose even more resolutely any Swedish government officials attending the award ceremony," China's ambassador to Sweden Gui Congyou said in remarks published in English on the embassy website.
"We will surely take counter-measures," he said, adding: "Some people in Sweden shouldn't expect to feel at ease after hurting the feelings of the Chinese people and the interests of the Chinese side."
The Chinese ambassador said Gui Minhai had "spread lies and viciously attacked the Chinese government", adding that Beijing supported "freedom of expression based on objective facts, not 'freedom of lies'."