China's broadcasting regulator has banned the BBC World Service from airing there, according to a report in Chinese state media. The news follows a move by Britain's communications regulator last week to strip the state-run China global television network of its broadcast license in the U.K.

According to the state news agency Xinhua, China's National Radio and Television Administration said BBC World News "was found to have seriously violated regulations on radio and television management and on overseas satellite television channel management in its China-related reports which went against the requirements that news reporting must be true and impartial, and undermined China's national interests and ethnic solidarity."

Xinhua quoted a statement from the regulator: "As the channel fails to meet the requirements to broadcast in China as an overseas channel, BBC World News is not allowed to continue its service within Chinese territory. The NRTA will not accept the channel's broadcast application for the new year."

U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called the move "unacceptable."

"China's decision to ban BBC World News in mainland China is an unacceptable curtailing of media freedom," Raab tweeted. "China has some of the most severe restrictions on media & internet freedoms across the globe, & this latest step will only damage China's reputation in the eyes of the world."

CGTN, the Chinese global television network, opened its European production center in London two years ago. But last week, Ofcom, the British regulator, announced it was pulling the network's license because China's Communist Party oversees the network's editorial policy. British law forbids political bodies from controlling license holders.

Experts had expected retaliation by the Chinese government against BBC reporters in China, even though the BBC is editorially independent of the British government.

The Chinese government has criticized and denied BBC reports that women were subject to rape and torture in internment camps for Uighurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang.

The BBC said it was disappointed with the decision by Chinese authorities.

"The BBC is the world's most trusted international news broadcaster and reports on stories from around the world fairly, impartially and without fear or favour," it said in a statement.

The Chinese government already censors some BBC content and the broadcaster's TV audience in the country is tiny. The BBC is not allowed to broadcast directly into Chinese homes and is largely available via satellite in international hotels and the homes of some foreigners and more globally minded Chinese.

NPR's Frank Langfitt contributed to this report from London.

kingharzy:
The Chinese are hiding a lot from the world.
BBC has been exposing their wack deeds for some time now, from Uighurs to Taiwan, DPRK to Hong Kong, COVID19 to dealings in Africa.

Rugaria:
For a longtime, you can't watch the BBC in China. BBC, CNN, Fox news, ABC, google, youtube, Facebook, twitter, Yahoo news.., every online western news portal is currently banned in China! I don't even know how the west tolorates that, especially when Chinese apps like tiktok and wechat are making waves in the western World. The Chinese even banned Skype and whatsapp!!! Once they don't like the liberal disposition of the western media outlets, the next action is to ban.. Running up to the olympics, all these websites were open in China! You can even watch critical youtube channels that rubbishes the Chinese government from China. But few months after the olympics, the Chinese clamped down on all of these sites with little or no protests from the west. The likes of CNN and MSNBC and BBC can only be viewed in very few public places like the hotels. Most times with permission. Individually, you have to use some sort of vpn to access any of the sites, otherwise, you have to make use of the Chinese sites or the few western sites not yet noticed by the Chinese....

The Chinese government knows how to control the messaging and is not ready to share the control of the people with any foreign entity. That's why the Trump presidency's arms twisting tactics against them must have proven a big deal in Beijing. I think most wetern governments over the last 40 years or so have gotten so used to the Chinese "queer" behavior on sundry issues and have looked the other way whenever these kinds of behavior are showcased. The Chinese are aware of this and have taken time to assert themselves strongly on issues they consider to be very important to safeguarding their national interests including curtailing the invasion of the Chinese society by foreign news organizations,with unrestricted broadcasting.. In so many ways this is good too. It helps the leadership of the country to steer the citizens along patriotic lines in a world in which the western powers have turned imperialism and subjugation as lethal tools for the pursuant of their overreaching foreign policy goals..

Rugaria:
For a longtime, you can't watch the BBC in China. BBC, CNN, Fox news, ABC, google, youtube, Facebook, twitter, Yahoo news.., every online western news portal is currently banned in China! I don't even know how the west tolorates that, especially when Chinese apps like tiktok and wechat are making waves in the western World. The Chinese even banned Skype and whatsapp!!! Once they don't like the liberal disposition of the western media outlets, the next action is to ban.. Running up to the olympics, all these websites were open in China! You can even watch critical youtube channels that rubbishes the Chinese government from China. But few months after the olympics, the Chinese clamped down on all of these sites with little or no protests from the west. The likes of CNN and MSNBC and BBC can only be viewed in very few public places like the hotels. Most times with permission. Individually, you have to use some sort of vpn to access any of the sites, otherwise, you have to make use of the Chinese sites or the few western sites not yet noticed by the Chinese....

The Chinese government knows how to control the messaging and is not ready to share the control of the people with any foreign entity. That's why the Trump presidency's arms twisting tactics against them must have proven a big deal in Beijing. I think most wetern governments over the last 40 years or so have gotten so used to the Chinese "queer" behavior on sundry issues and have looked the other way whenever these kinds of behavior are showcased. The Chinese are aware of this and have taken time to assert themselves strongly on issues they consider to be very important to safeguarding their national interests including curtailing the invasion of the Chinese society by foreign news organizations,with unrestricted broadcasting.. In so many ways this is good too. It helps the leadership of the country to steer the citizens along patriotic lines in a world in which the western powers have turned imperialism and subjugation as lethal tools for the pursuant of their overreaching foreign policy goals..