BBC reporter left China after receiving threats from regime: “It is too risky to continue”

A correspondent for the British state media BBC announced on Wednesday that He left China after receiving legal threats and pressure from the authorities for his reporting on human rights violations against the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang. and the coronavirus pandemic.

John Sudworth moved to Taiwan with his wife, the journalist too Yvonne murray, Chinese correspondent for Irish public radio RTE.

After nine years in Beijing, it was “too risky to continue”, Sudworth said in an interview with BBC Radio 4, ensure that Threats from Chinese authorities have “intensified” in recent months.

The correspondent reported that he and his family were followed at the airport. and at the boarding area by Chinese police. He also indicated that the two he and his team have been subjected to surveillance, threats of legal action, obstruction and intimidation every time they attempted to film.

“The BBC has faced a full-fledged propaganda attack, not only against the organization itself, but against me personally, through multiple platforms controlled by the Communist Party.” Sudworth said.

The British public company highlighted the work of the journalist and stressed that it maintains him as a correspondent in China.

“John’s work revealed truths the Chinese authorities didn’t want the world to know”, underlined the BBC it is a statement. “The BBC is proud of John’s award-winning work while in Beijing and will continue to be our correspondent in China.”

According to BBC, an article in the state newspaper Global Times accused Sudworth of “hiding” in Taiwan after his “partial” coverage of Xinjiang and the origin of the COVID pandemic.

“Everybody knows it BBC broadcasts a lot of false news about China with a strong ideological bias ” Hua Chunying, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson at a press conference in Beijing.

For its part, RTE announced that Sudworth’s wife, Yvonne Murray would also continue to cover Chinese news from Taiwan.

“We left in a hurry when the pressure and threats from the Chinese government, which had been going on for some time, got too much.», Explained the reporter.

“Two of our children were born in China, they all speak fluent Chinese, they feel at home there and it is particularly difficult for them to face the reality that they may never be able to return ”, to complain.

GROWING PRESS HARASSMENT

The number of international media reports from China declined last year after this country will expel correspondents from New York Times, el Washington Post and the the Wall Street newspaper, among others.

In addition, Australian media withdrew all correspondents from China last year for fear of being arbitrarily detained.

Press freedom groups claim that the space for foreign correspondents to operate in China is increasingly controlled, and that journalists are followed in the streets, suffer from harassment on the Internet and are denied visas.

Several countries denounced the treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang province.

Washington accused Beijing of making arbitrary arrests of civilians, forced sterilizations, torture, forced labor and restrictions on freedom of religion, expression and movement.

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