On Friday, China banned the BBC World News from the month-long television network, and the Hong Kong Public Broadcaster said it would stop broadcasting the BBC World Service. This comes a week after Britain revoked its broadcasting license for Chinese state television.
The National Broadcasting Corporation of China (Radio and Television) said that the BBC’s coverage of China had “seriously violated” the demand for “truth and justice”, thereby undermining China’s interests and undermining national unity.
The China Foreign Correspondents Club said it appeared China was trying to force foreign media to follow the Chinese government’s line. Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy in London has accused the BBC of “persistent fraud”.
Prior to the ban, the BBC was not involved in most of the TV packages offered in China, but was available in some hotels and private homes.
Two Reuters reporters in Beijing said the channel had disappeared.
British Foreign Secretary Dominique Raab has called the ban an “unacceptable restriction on media freedom”.
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