European Union calls on China to revoke ban on BBC World News

The EU said Beijing’s move further restricted ‘freedom of expression and access to information inside its borders’

China blocked BBC World News in apparent retaliation for Britain’s pulling of the licence of state-owned Chinese broadcaster CGTN

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The BBC Broadcasting House in London. Photo: PA Wire/Zuma Press/TNS

Published: 8:49pm, 13 Feb 2021Updated: 8:49pm, 13 Feb 2021

The European Union on Saturday called on China to reverse its ban on the BBC World News television channel imposed in apparent retaliation for Britain’s pulling of the licence of state-owned Chinese broadcaster CGTN.

The EU said in a statement that Beijing’s move further restricted “freedom of expression and access to information inside its borders,” and violated both the Chinese constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The statement also said that Hong Kong’s announcement that its public broadcaster would also stop carrying BBC broadcasts added to the “erosion of the rights and freedoms that is ongoing” in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory since the imposition last year of a sweeping new national security law.

“The EU remains strongly committed to safeguarding media freedom and pluralism, as well as protecting the right to freedom of expression online and offline, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information without interference of any kind,” the statement said.

While Britain is no longer in the EU, it remains a member of the Council of Europe, which oversees a 1989 agreement linking broadcasting licences. Britain, the US and foreign correspondents based in China have also expressed dismay over the BBC ban.

China’s move on Thursday was largely symbolic, because BBC World was shown only on cable TV systems in hotels and residential compounds for foreigners and some other businesses. However, it comes against the backdrop of growing conflict between Beijing and Western governments over a slew of issues ranging from human rights to trade and the Covid-19 pandemic in which Chinese criticisms over foreign media coverage have played a prominent role.