Beijing slams offensive Swedish TV show

The Foreign Ministry strongly protested on Monday that a recent Swedish TV show insulted China, and demanded Swedish station SVT take immediate measures to eliminate the adverse effects.

The SVT anchor maliciously used very vulgar language against China and the Chinese people, which has incited discrimination, bias and provocation against China and other ethnic groups, and is a clear breach of journalistic ethics, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.

The program aired on Friday and cast China in a negative light following a recent incident regarding Swedish police mistreatment of Chinese tourists.

Program anchor Jesper Ronndahl made comments that amount to a gross insult to and a vicious attack on China and the Chinese people, Geng said, adding that China strongly condemned the malicious act and the ministry and Chinese embassy in Sweden have lodged a strong protest to the Swedish side.

The Chinese embassy in Stockholm said on Saturday that the SVT program and Ronndahl spread and advocated racism and xenophobia, and openly provoked and instigated racial hatred and confrontation targeting China and some other ethnic groups.

The program also used an inaccurate map in which China's Taiwan and some parts of the Tibet autonomous region were missing, which severely infringes on China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the embassy added.

The program breaks the basic moral principles of mankind and gravely challenges human conscience, the embassy said.

Also, a warning was issued on Sunday by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism notifying travelers to carefully choose destinations in Sweden, and Chinese tourists have been increasingly concerned about traveling to the Scandinavian country.

The ministry warned that security incidents frequently occurred in Sweden and China's embassy in Stockholm has received reports of robbery, property theft and other crimes reported by Chinese travelers since April.

However, none of these cases were solved by local police, according to the ministry.

Liu Simin, a researcher at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said travelers are encouraged to inquire about local conditions before setting off on trips.