The Chinese government’s broadcasting regulator announced on Friday that it was banning BBC broadcasting in the country, claiming that the British broadcaster had harmed the Chinese “unity” with its report on the country’s atrocities against ethnic minorities.
In a state-controlled Global Times report, the BBC was accused of presenting a biased report on systematic rape and torture of Uighurs in Xinjiang. A statement by the country’s Radio and Television Administration accused the BBC of violating a “fair” reporting requirement and of harming “Chinese ethnic unity”.
The BBC published a distressing report on February 2 on mass rape, sexual abuse and torture of Uighur Muslims in Chinese internment camps. The United States formally accused China of genocide last month for its ethnic cleansing practices against Uighurs, which include labor camps and forced abortions and sterilizations.
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The BBC’s ban from China was also seen as a retaliatory move after the British media regulator revoked the Communist Party’s China Global Television Network license last week.
The BBC was once heavily censored in China, but was available through satellite services in hotels and some homes.
Author Gordon Chang told Fox News that the government’s decision was perhaps the “least surprising news of the decade” and said it would only serve to further isolate China from the world.
“We are disappointed that the Chinese authorities have decided to take this course of action,” the BBC News press team said in a statement. “The BBC is the most trusted international news broadcaster in the world and reports stories from around the world fairly, impartially and without fear or favor.”
UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab also criticized China for the decision, denouncing its draconian restrictions on press freedom and saying it would further damage its position in the world.
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The BBC has also done critical reporting on how China deals with the coronavirus pandemic, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The government’s cover-up of the pandemic in its early weeks was instrumental in its devastating spread across the world, infecting and killing millions.