The United States “absolutely” condemned the BBC’s Chinese censorship

The United States denounced the ban in China on Thursday BBC after the distribution of a report on the treatment of the Uyghur Muslim minority in that country, urging Beijing to allow free access to the media. “We absolutely condemn the decision,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price., which called on China and “other countries with authoritarian control over the population” to allow full access to the Internet and freedom of the media. “

The senior official noted this In China, the news space is one of the “most controlled, most oppressive and least free in the world”He further stated that it is alarming that, while Beijing restricts media within its territory, it is using freedom abroad to “promote disinformation.”

China has the international news service of the Thursday BBC, alleging that he “seriously violated” the regime’s regulations. The media agency of the Asian giant said this in a statement the British channel did not meet “the requirement that journalism be truthful and fair” and not harm “national interests”.

So, the agency “does not allow the BBC to broadcast in China, and does not accept the renewal of its annual license”, indicated the text.

The BBC spoke immediately of the decision and, in her own statement, a spokeswoman said the company is “disappointed that the Chinese authorities have decided to go this way”. “The BBC is the most trusted broadcaster in the world, reporting honestly, impartially and without fear or favor worldwide”he added.

In addition, The British government on Thursday accused China of censorship, since your decision to ban BBC came after the report on that country’s treatment of the Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang region, where there is abundant evidence that ethnic cleansing is taking place.

Dominic Raab, the British Foreign Secretary, called the decision to prevent the news channel from being broadcast in mainland China “an unacceptable restriction on press freedom”. “China has some of the toughest restrictions on internet and media freedoms in the world, and this last step will only damage China’s reputation in the eyes of the worldHe tweeted.

The UK and China have starred in several episodes in recent months revealing the mounting diplomatic tensions. This has been the case with regard to China’s crackdown on the former British colony of Hong Kong, security concerns surrounding Huawei technology and the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region.

Last Thursday, the British Ofcom obtained the license of CGTN, the sister channel in English of the state broadcaster CCTV, after concluding that the ruling Communist Party of China had ultimate editorial responsibility for the channel.

In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry charged the British Broadcasting Corp – responsible for the BBC– from promote “fake news” in your report on COVID-19, demanding an apology, saying the station had politicized the pandemic and “disproved the theories about the cover-up by China.”

(With information from AFP and Reuters)

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