China yesterday said it “firmly opposes” a decision by the UK’s media regulator to revoke a state-run television channel’s license to broadcast, accusing the British government of “blatant double standards and political oppression” amid rising tensions between the two.
“We urge the UK to immediately stop political maneuvers and correct its mistakes,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) told a news conference.
Ofcom “oppresses the coverage of CGTN [China Global Television Network] in the UK, politicizes technical matters and severely damages the Chinese media’s reputation,” he said, referring to the UK media regulator.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“China reserves the right to make necessary reaction to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese media,” Wang said.
The decision by Ofcom to pull CGTN off the air builds on a growing list of spats, including a newly announced path to UK citizenship for Hong Kong residents in the wake of controversial national security legislation imposed on the territory by China.
Although the UK had been seeking to enhance trade ties with China after leaving the EU, it has criticized Beijing for its treatment of Uighurs in Xinjiang and is to bar Huawei Technologies (華為) from its 5G networks by 2027.
In the past few weeks, Chinese officials and state media have gone to new lengths to criticize foreign media reporting on China.
The People’s Daily yesterday dedicated an entire page to debunking what it called lies and smears against China related to Xinjiang.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs aired stern representations with the BBC on Thursday over a documentary on COVID-19, calling it “typical fake news containing ideological bias” and demanded a public apology. The BBC said it stands by the story and rejected the “unfounded accusations.”
Ofcom found that CGTN’s license holder did not have editorial control over broadcasts in the UK, according to an investigation published on Thursday.
CGTN had asked for its license to be transferred to another entity, but “crucial information” was missing from the application and the new owner would be disqualified from holding a license as it would be controlled by a body ultimately directed by the Chinese Communist Party, Ofcom said.
Ofcom also said it was close to reaching a decision on separate sanctions against CGTN for failing to preserve impartiality in its coverage of protests in Hong Kong, and for breaching fairness and privacy rules.
British corporate investigator Peter Humphrey and two others had previously submitted complaints about CGTN to Ofcom, alleging that the channel had aired their forced confessions.
Separately, the UK has expelled three Chinese spies working in the UK while posing as journalists over the past year, the Daily Telegraph reported on Thursday.
The three were understood to be intelligence officers for the Chinese Ministry of State Security, the paper said, citing an unnamed senior government source.
“Their true identities were uncovered by MI5 and they have since been forced to return to China,” it said, referring to Britain’s domestic intelligence agency.
Additional reporting by the AFP
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