BEIJING: The BBC’s Beijing correspondent John Sudworth, whose sustained reporting on the remedy of the Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang province angered China, has moved to Taiwan following strain and threats from the native authorities, the British broadcaster mentioned on Wednesday.
Sudworth, who has received awards for his reporting on Xinjiang, left Beijing together with his household, BBC mentioned in a report on its web site.
Sudworth, who was based mostly in China for 9 years, mentioned he moved to Taiwan alongside together with his spouse, Yvonne Murray, additionally a China correspondent for the Irish public broadcaster RTE.
Sudworth says he and his staff confronted surveillance, threats of authorized motion, obstruction, and intimidation wherever they tried to movie.
Requested about Sudworth’s departure and allegations of intimidation, Chinese language Overseas Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying informed media individuals that he might have left as he confronted authorized motion over his reporting on Xinjiang.
“We have heard that some people and entities in Xinjiang are planning to sue him as a result of his pretend experiences on the area have broken their pursuits,” Hua mentioned.
She mentioned no Chinese language division nor any native governments in China threatened him.
“If there’s any proof that he is underneath menace he ought to have referred to as the police for cover,” she mentioned.
China has protested to the BBC not too long ago, accusing it of carrying pretend experiences on China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Area and China’s COVID-19 prevention and management efforts.
Final month, China had barred BBC World Information from being aired within the nation and revoked its license for one yr.
On Sudworth’s departure, The Overseas Correspondents’ Membership (FCC) of China mentioned international journalists are “being caught up in diplomatic rows out of their management”.
“Abuse of Sudworth and his colleagues on the BBC varieties half of a bigger sample of harassment and intimidation that obstructs the work of international correspondents in China and exposes their Chinese language information assistants to rising strain,” the FCC mentioned in an announcement posted on Twitter.
