China bans BBC after harrowing report on atrocities against Uighurs

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The Chinese government's broadcasting regulator announced Friday it was banning the BBC from airing in the country, claiming the British broadcaster had harmed Chinese "unity" with its reporting on the country's atrocities against ethnic minorities.

In a report through the state-controlled Global Times, the BBC was accused of filing a biased report about systematic rape and torture of the Uighurs in Xinjiang. A statement from the country's Radio and Television Administration accused the BBC of violating a requirement for "fair" reporting and having damaged "Chinese ethnic unity."

The BBC published a harrowing report on Feb. 2 about mass rape, sexual abuse, and torture of Uighur Muslims at Chinese internment camps. The United States formally accused China of genocide last month over its ethnic cleansing practices against the Uighurs, which include labor camps and forced abortions and sterilizations.

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The BBC's banishment from China was also viewed as a retaliatory move after the British media regulator revoked the license of the Communist Party-aligned China Global Television Network last week.

The BBC was already heavily censored within China, but it was available through satellite services at hotels and some residential homes.

Author Gordon Chang told Fox News the government's decision was perhaps the "least surprising news of the decade" and said it would serve to only close China off more 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 world's most trusted international news broadcaster and reports on stories from around the world fairly, impartially, and without fear or favour." 

United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also blasted China over the decision, calling out its draconian restrictions on press freedom and saying it would further damage its standing in the world.

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The BBC has also reported critically on China's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The government's cover-up of the pandemic in its first weeks was instrumental in its devastating spread throughout the world, infecting and killing millions.