- The BBC said John Sudworth, its China correspondent, has relocated to Taiwan.
- It came after China attacked both the reporter and broadcaster for its coverage of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
- China also banned BBC World News from broadcasting in the country in February.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
The BBC said on Wednesday that it had relocated its China correspondent to Taiwan, a move that came after Chinese government attacks on both the reporter and broadcaster for its coverage of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
The BBC did not give a specific reason for John Sudworth's relocation, but said: "John's work has exposed truths that Chinese authorities did not want the world to know."
-BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) March 31, 2021
During Sudworth's time in China, he had reported on the origins of the coronavirus and China's use of Uyghur and other ethnic-minority citizens for manual labor in cotton fields. China denies doing this.
China has constructed hundreds of prisons and detention centers in and near the region of Xinjiang, and at least one million Uighurs have been detained there. China calls them "re-education camps," but reports detail a multiude of human rights abuses and forced labor.
A BBC News producer in Shanghai shared a link to Sudworth's reporting after a journalist with the state-owned Global Times tabloid suggested that Sudworth was "hid[ing]" in Taiwan:
-Kathy Long (@ProducerKathy) March 31, 2021
China had banned BBC World News from broadcasting in the country in February, accusing the broadcaster of reporting fake news.
The BBC said at the time it was "disappointed" in the decision, and UK politicians condemed the move.
The ban came days after the BBC published a report featuring interviews with Uighur women who said they were systematically raped, sexually abused and tortured in China's camps. China said the BBC made a "false report".
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China said on Wednesday that it was "concerned and saddened" to learn that Sudworth had left China "amid concerns for his safety and that of his family."
It said that "Sudworth left after months of personal attacks and disinformation targeting him and his BBC colleagues, disseminated by both Chinese state media and Chinese government officials."
It also urged China to "facilitate unhindered reporting" in the country.
-Foreign Correspondents' Club of China (@fccchina) March 31, 2021
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