Sweden has shut down its last remaining China-backed Confucius Institute as relations with China took a dive in recent years, British daily The Times reported.

Sweden's move makes it the first European country to close all its Confucius Institutes, which are Chinese-funded schools that teach the Chinese language and culture.

However, the schools and classrooms were seen as part of Beijing's propaganda machinery.

Closure represents hardening view towards China

The Swedish Institute of International Affairs Asia programme head Björn Jerden told The Times that the closure indicated Sweden's hardening stance towards China, saying that "public opinion of China has become a lot more negative in Sweden".

He said: "This is quite significant, since Sweden used to be one of the most active countries in Europe in terms of the number of these agreements.”

Swedish cities end twin-city agreements with China

Following the move, the country's second largest city, Gothenburg, put a stop to its twin-city agreement with Shanghai, local media reported.

Gothenburg's mayor Axel Josefson told Radio Sweden that exchange between the two cities for the past two to three years has been "minimal".

He said: "Considering the times we are in, we don't find it suitable to extend the twin-city agreement."

The twin-city agreement, signed 34 years ago, was expanded in 2003 to include broader exchanges in culture, economics, trade and sport.

Nevertheless, despite the end of the agreement, the municipal trade authority and port authority is allowed to continue its relations with Shanghai and China.

Besides Gothenburg, other Swedish cities have also ceased their twin-sister agreements with China lately.

For instance, Linköping, Lulea, Vasteras and Dalarna cut ties with Guangdong, Xi'an, Jinan and Wuhan respectively.

Relations took a nosedive over bookseller's imprisonment

Relations between the two countries had soured over the years due to a disagreement regarding the Chinese authorities' imprisonment of Chinese-born Swedish citizen Gui Minhai.

Gui, a bookseller based in Hong Kong, was selling books that were critical of the Chinese ruling elite, such as Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The books, often of a salacious nature, were suspected by many to be almost entirely fabricated, The Guardian reported.

He disappeared from Thailand in October 2015, and reappeared on Chinese state broadcaster CCTV a year later to make a public "confession" -- a mainstay of China's criminal law -- saying he fled China years ago after a fatal hit-and-run incident in which a young woman was killed, but had since returned out of guilt.

https://twitter.com/CGTNOfficial/status/688700590516375553

His tearful confession, however, was doubted by friends and family, as well as critics who said the confession was staged and forced out of Gui.

Sweden sees China as being increasingly belligerent

Tensions between the two countries grew as Stockholm continued its support for Gui and its rhetoric on human rights, and as China continues what was seen as an increasingly aggressive rhetoric towards Sweden.

Following Sweden's move in December 2019 to award the Tucholsky Prize -- an annual award given to writers living under threat or in exile -- to the bookseller, the Chinese ambassador to Sweden Gui Congyou said: "We treat our friends with fine wine, but for our enemies we got shotguns."

Gui Congyou continued his belligerent response the following month, likening the Swedish media to a boxer who is trying to provoke a much larger and heavier opponent.

He told Swedish public broadcaster SVT: "It's like a 48kg lightweight boxer who is trying to provoke a boxing match with an 86kg heavyweight, and the 86kg heavyweight boxer wants to be nice and protect the 48kg boxer, so he tells him to go away and watch out for himself."

He continued: "But the lighweight boxer doesn't listen, and instead continues to provoke the heavyweight, and even forces his way into his home."

"So what choice does the heavyweight boxer have?"

As a sign of further deterioration of relations between the two countries, Chinese hawkish state media Global Times ran an op-ed on March 13 that accused Sweden of being the "black hole" of Europe when it came to tackling the public health crisis, despite other European countries faring worse than Sweden at that time.

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