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Summary
- UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab accused China of restricting media freedom.
- China’s refusal to come clean on Covid-19 botch-up irked the UK.
- China has been criticising the UK for giving refuge to political activists from Hong Kong.
Following the UK’s media watchdog Ofcom decision to disallow China Global Television Network to broadcast in the UK, the Chinese authorities on Thursday banned the BBC from being aired in its country.
The Chinese government has accused the BBC of misreporting on the Covid-19 pandemic and for its coverage on the treatment to minority community Uyghurs.
Besides, the Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) has also announced that BBC World Service programming would not be allowed to stream in the region.
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In a statement, China has said that the BBC’s China coverage violated the country’s regulations and accused the network of jeopardising China’s national interests and disrupting internal harmony. It has added that the BBC’s application to air would not be allowed for a year as it violates the standards required to be met by foreign publications working in China.
In a statement, the BBC said that the network is one of the world’s most reliable news sources and its reportage from every country adhered to journalistic standards of fairness and impartiality. It added that it is disappointed with the Chinese government.
While BBC is aired globally, in China its broadcast is restricted as it is not aired anywhere except in diplomatic offices or in certain hotels. The average Chinese population does not get access to the channel.
Decision criticised
UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab has slammed the Chinese government for the ban and said that the decision has damaged China’s global image. He said the decision was unacceptable and criticised China for having undemocratic restrictions on the freedom of the media and the internet. The ban was slammed by the US.
Honk Kong too came out in support of the BBC as Chris Yeung Kin-hing, Chairman, Hong Kong Journalists Association, called the decision worrying and expressed anguish over RTHK’s refusal to stream BBC.
Strained ties
The decision is another nail in the coffin of the UK-China diplomatic relations. The ties between the two countries started decaying after it was alleged that China was not disclosing details about the coronavirus deliberately when it was first detected in the country.
And it is not just the pandemic that impacted ties between the two countries. Both have locked horns on several diplomatic issues, ranging from Honk Kong to Huawei. The US had barred Huawei from doing business in the US over security concerns. After prolonged campaigns by UK Parliamentarians and certain lobby groups, who believed that Huawei was acting on behest of the Chinese government to compromise national security, the UK administration banned the company in July 2020.
Several activists from Honk Kong, like politicians Ted Hui and Nathan Law, have fled Hong Kong and have taken refuge in the UK. This has been another point of contention between the two countries.
Honk Kong was a British colony till 1997 before it became a part of China. As part of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, Honk Kong was promised special freedoms and privileges for 50 years. It would be the same country as China, but the systems would be separate. These promises have not been honoured over the years.
But when China slapped the stringent National Security Law following protests in Hong Kong, the UK said that the imposition dishonoured the Joint Declaration and allowed several citizens of Hong Kong to seek refuge in the UK. China termed the move as interference in internal affairs.
The Chinese government’s handling of the protests in Hong Kong also impacted the functioning of UK’s financial services companies that had major operations in the Asian financial centre.
China’s treatment towards one of its ethnic minority groups, Uyghurs, have also led to some debate between the two countries. The detentions and persecutions of the Muslim minority group from the Xinjiang region by the authorities were getting global coverage. There were news reports that accused the government of forced sterilization to bring down Uyghur birth rate. The Chinese government accepted that mass detention camps existed but said they were used to deradicalise extremists.
Following this, the UK’s upper house brought about an amendment to a trade bill which allowed deals to be withdrawn with countries that were found to be involved in genocides by the UK High Court. All these tensions together have brought the UK-China diplomatic relations under strain.
