In what was no doubt a retaliatory move by China for the British revocation of CGTN’s broadcast license in the U.K., China banned all broadcasts of BBC in the People’s Republic. The CGTN license revocation may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back: the Chinese Foreign Ministry has issued numerous protests over the lies that have been broadcast by the British network on Xinjiang, in which they have accused the government of mass rapes and sexual abuse, on Hong Kong, on the “Wuhan virus,” etc. Of course, this measure has been met by protests from the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and from the U.S. State Department.
Before the ban, BBC in China had only been shown in hotels and other venues that catered to foreign tourists, but now that is at an end. The ban also prevents BBC from broadcasting in Hong Kong, which would otherwise carry BBC news on Fridays.
The reason for the ban given by the National Radio and Television Administration was that the BBC violated requirements that news reporting be true and impartial and undermined China’s national interests and ethnic solidarity. China has not yet revoked the press credentials of BBC correspondents in China.
