Chinese Ambassador Publishes Article in FokusKina

On October 8, 2023, Cui Aimin (崔愛民), Chinese ambassador to Sweden, published a signed article in the Swedish magazine FokusKina, titled “Witnessing Half a Century of Mutually Beneficial China-Sweden Economic and Trade Cooperation” (見證半個世紀中瑞經貿互利友好合作). The article centered on the story of Italy-born, Sweden-based businessman Peppino Cocozza and his decades of participation in the Canton Fair (廣交會) as a framing device for China’s economic transformation. Cui highlighted bilateral trade figures, stating that in 2022 China-Sweden goods trade totaled 20.6 billion dollars, with top categories including machinery, vehicles, pharmaceuticals, instruments, and furniture. He also noted growing cooperation in new energy, electric vehicles, and infrastructure, and employed characteristic Chinese state-media framing to describe the two countries’ economies as “highly complementary” (高度互補) with “enormous potential” (潛力巨大) for development, and appealing to China’s “Swedish friends” (瑞典的朋友們).