The Chinese government is banning BBC News from landing in its country after the British agency published an explosive story about alleged tortures and rapes in Uighur concentration camps.
The decision comes a week after Ofcom, the UK media regulator has banned a license for the China Global Television Network (CGTN) to be broadcast in the UK.
A statement Thursday from the National Radio and Television Administration of China (NRTA) accused the BBC of failing to meet government standards for reporting – including that it allegedly undermined China’s national unity.
“After investigation, the relevant content of the BBC World News reports related to China seriously violated the relevant provisions of the ‘Regulations on the administration of radio and television’ and the ‘Administrative measures for the landing of satellite TV channels abroad’, violating the requirements that the news should be true and fair, harm China’s national interests and undermine China’s national unity, “said the NRTA in the statement.
The official went on to say that the BBC does not meet its standards for “foreign channels in China, the State Radio and Television Administration does not allow BBC World News to continue to land in China and will not accept its landing request in China. O new Year.”
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The BBC said it was “disappointed” by the action, while British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab criticized the decision as “an unacceptable restriction on media freedom”, according to Reuters.
However, the BBC was never allowed to broadcast in mainland China or directly to most Chinese households. It is available mainly via satellite in international hotels and in the homes of some foreigners and senior citizens.
The BBC report on Uighurs included alleged ex-detainees who alleged horrible abuses, such as raping women with electrocution tools, as well as forcing others to watch a woman being raped.
The US State Department responded by saying it was “deeply disturbed by reports, including first-hand testimonies, of systematic rape and sexual abuse against women in internment camps for ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang”.
The nature of China’s repressive security apparatus makes it difficult to report on the functioning of the mass detention camps in Xinjiang.
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Reported ex-inmates came forward describing, among other things, forced sterilization and abortions in Uighur women.
At the end of former President Trump’s rule, the State Department formally accused China of genocide.
Fox News’ Vicki Choi contributed to this report.