The United States condemns China's decision to ban the broadcast of the British BBC television. State Department spokesman Ned Price said this during a briefing, the video of which was posted on the department's Twitter account.
Price called China's information space “the most controlled and least free in the world” and called on the Chinese authorities to provide their people with full access to the Internet and media. “It is alarming that as China restricts the freedom of media and Internet platforms at home, its leadership is using the free and open environment for media outlets abroad to spread disinformation,” a State Department official said.
The Chinese regulator decided to ban the broadcasting of the British TV channel “BBC” on Friday night. A statement released by the Chinese authorities said the channel violated broadcasting policy because its reporting was not truthful and impartial, and “undermined national interests and ethnic solidarity.”
Prior to that, the Chinese government had repeatedly criticized BBC reporting on the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in China and human rights abuses in Xinjiang, which is predominantly populated by Muslim Uighurs. In addition, a week earlier, the British regulator Ofcom canceled the broadcasting license of the Chinese state TV channel CGTN in the UK.
