John Sudworth (left) and Yvonne Murray
6/ A foreign journalist visa’s normal duration in China is 12 months. Sudworth’s wife, Yvonne Murray, the China correspondent of RTE, the Irish broadcaster, left with him.
— Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (@fccchina) March 31, 2021
This afternoon.
The BBC’s Beijing correspondent John Sudworth has left China and moved to Taiwan following pressure and threats from the Chinese authorities.
Via BBC:
He and his family were followed to the airport and into the check-in area by plainclothes police officers. His wife, Yvonne Murray, is the China correspondent for the Irish public broadcaster RTE.
Sudworth, who has won awards for his reporting on the treatment of the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang region, left Beijing with his family.
The BBC says it is proud of his reporting and he remains its China correspondent.
Meanwhile, Ms Murray said:
“Two of our children were born in China, they all speak fluent Chinese, so for them it is home and it’s particularly distressing for them facing the reality that they might never be able to go back, as long as the Chinese state is so determined to target and punish journalists for simply doing their job.
“But we will try to hold on to the memories we’ve made. China is an extraordinarily colourful, culturally rich country. Friendships we forged with Chinese people over the years can’t be taken from us.
“The secret police who followed us as we left – while a sad departing memory – can’t erase all the other happy memories.”
BBC China correspondent John Sudworth moves to Taiwan after threats (BBC)
Irish reporter leaves China after rise in surveillance (RTÉ)
Pics: BBC/RTÉ
the chinese communist party – tough but fair..
They’re lucky some fabricated charge didn’t prevent them from leaving.
They are Nazis with better PR.
Nazi’s without the war and a few extra holocausts.
there’s a few Chinese Muslims who might not agree
Reporting on China from 1,300 miles away. You couldn’t make it up – although he probably did.
Award-winning reporting? You’re havin’ a laugh. I certainly won’t be looking to BBC correspondents to inform my opinion of what is happening in in the Xinjiang region.
The real underlying function of the BBC abroad is that of a propaganda arm for the UK FCO and NATO rather than a media outlet producing unbiased and balanced reporting. It actively participates in information warfare initiatives designed to undermine governments which are perceived to be geopolitical rivals to the US-led cabal.
A prime example of that was the recent leak of UK FCO-related documents exposing the activities of the BBC and others in Russia and the surrounding region. As US journalist Max Blumental reports:
“The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have sponsored Reuters and the BBC to conduct a series of covert programs aimed at promoting regime change inside Russia and undermining its government across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, according to a series of leaked documents.”
https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/20/reuters-bbc-uk-foreign-office-russian-media/