The diplomat
Photo: Regeringskansliet
Anna Lindstedt with parts of her family and friends at the Great Wall.
I got a reputation of being a person who can spread some happiness and optimism in this often almost destructive atmosphere.”
Anna Lindstedt at the inauguration of a Scandinavian centre in Jingdezhen in Jiangsu Province, known as a porcelain capital in China.
An ambassador with a ‘sunshine’ spirit About a year ago, Anna Lindstedt was part of the outcome of the global Paris agreement on climate change. Her knowledge about environmental issues is a valuable experience in her new job as Sweden’s ambassador to China. Text: Jan Hökerberg jan.hokerberg@bambooinasia.com
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hen Anna Lindstedt served as Sweden’s ambassador for climate change and chief negotiator in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) between 2011 and 2016, she was sometimes called “Ms Sunshine” by other delegates because of her positive spirit during the negotiations. “Everybody who has worked with climate change negotiations know that there can be a rather aggressive mood in the meetings in which all countries in the world need to agree. Instead, I tried to always have the ambition to find solutions that would lead to a global agreement. So I got a reputation of being a person who can spread some happiness and optimism in this often almost destructive atmosphere,” says Lindstedt, who in April 2016 was appointed Sweden’s new ambassador to China. On 1 September, Lindstedt took office at the embassy in the Sanlitun area of Beijing, where she also has her residence. Her husband Anders, who is a teacher, and their four children Daniel, 24, Valdemar, 21, Astrid, 19, and Edith, 17, will stay in Europe for the first year, after which Anders and perhaps some of the children will join. Lindstedt grew up in Lund, a university city in southern Sweden. At the university,
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she studied languages, political science, economics and international relations. She holds a diploma of French language and literature from the Sorbonne in Paris and also studied at a school of journalism, not far from Lund. In the 1980s, she worked as a journalist for five years at a couple of regional Swedish newspapers before joining the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1990. Her diplomatic career took her to Indonesia, as second secretary at Sweden’s embassy in Jakarta, and to Islamabad in Pakistan, where she served as first secretary. In 2003, she was appointed ambassador to Vietnam and lived there until 2006, when she moved to Mexico City to serve as ambassador for five years. Lindstedt has always had a passion for languages, which she sees as an important tool to get insight into a country’s culture. “I learnt Bahasa when I lived in Indonesia. In Pakistan, I studied Urdu and I also studied some Vietnamese in Hanoi. Spanish I knew already when I came to Mexico. Now I’ve started to study Chinese, and that is another great challenge,” she says. Her background in Asia and her recent years as ambassador for climate change has given her a wide range of knowledge that will be useful in her new job. “In the climate
change negotiations, we had a close dialogue with the Chinese negotiators and I visited Beijing several times in my job,” she says, citing an example. To work as a negotiator is very different from having an ambassador’s job. Negotiations can be very intense and go on until late at night – or even for 24 hours. There are many power struggles between people with differing opinions. In December 2015, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris finally reached a global agreement on the reduction of climate change, with 196 countries attending. “Having been a part of such an important global agreement as the one which was reached in Paris feels very meaningful – not many people will experience that. It was a tough job, but also very interesting – and a success for both Sweden and the world,” says Lindstedt. “I recently met with Australia’s ambassador in Beijing, who has also worked with the climate change negotiations. We both agreed that if someone has gone through tough negotiations such as these over five years, then you will be able to handle almost everything. So I feel quite prepared for being ambassador to China, which is one of the most exciting jobs a diplomat can have, since it is important not only for Sweden but also for the whole world,” she says.
Having been a part of such an important global agreement as the one which was reached in Paris feels very meaningful – not many people will experience that.” In her new job, it is Lindstedt’s ambition to “keep and strengthen the deep relationship between Sweden and China”. Sweden was the first Western country to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China in May 1950 – 66 years ago. “I will use a strategic approach in my work to find more possible cooperation in areas such as environmental technology and food safety, where Sweden can offer many solutions,” Lindstedt says. “However, we can also learn from how China works with innovation and other issues. It is exciting to be in a country where the development goes so fast in so many areas – for example, within renewable energy,” she adds. Lindstedt hopes that China will continue its economic reform programme, try to solve issues connected to the environment such as
air pollution and transform its energy system from fossil fuels to renewables. “There is definitely a consciousness among the Chinese leaders that the reform process must continue,” she says. b Five ambassadors in 20 years Over the past 20 years, as China has undergone historically unparalleled development, Sweden has had five ambassadors to China: 1997-2002: Kjell Anneling 2002-2006: Börje Ljunggren 2006-2010: Mikael Lindström 2010-2016: Lars Fredén 2016- : Anna Lindstedt
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