Swedish Media Report: Chinese Foreign Minister Defends the Death Penalty

On April the 16th 2004, an article was published by a Swedish Daily newspaper regarding the meeting between the Chinese and Swedish Foreign Ministers. It states that at the meeting between the Chinese foreign Minister Mr. Zhaoxing Li and the Swedish foreign Minister Mrs Laila Freivalds in Stockholm, they failed to reach unanimity on the issue of the death penalty. According to news from the Swedish Foreign Ministry, the number of people who are subjected to the death penalty is approximately 15,000 in China every year. After the meeting, Mrs Laila Freivalds revealed to the TT News Agency that when the issue of China’s death penalty policy was raised, Mr. Zhaoxing Li did his utmost to plead and insisted that every country should have their own method of what is needed to govern their country.