BBC journalist leaves China amid Beijing's criticisms of network's coverage

BBC News said on Wednesday one of its journalists in China had relocated to Taiwan, a move that comes amid criticism from Beijing about the broadcaster’s reports on alleged human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang region.

BBC News, in a statement published on one of its official Twitter accounts, did not specify why John Sudworth had left Beijing.

“John’s work has exposed truth the Chinese authorities did not want the world to know,” BBC News said. “The BBC is proud of John’s award-winning reporting during his time in Beijing and he remains our China correspondent.” Beijing took the BBC World News off the airwaves last month in response to what the Chinese embassy in London called “relentless fabrication of ‘lies of the century’ in reporting China.”

The BBC published a report in February that women in Xinjiang’s internment camps for Uighurs were subject to rape, sexual abuse and torture.

Sudworth was not one of the BBC journalists credited in the report, though he has been criticised by name by the Chinese foreign ministry as well as Chinese state and Communist Party-backed media.

China has repeatedly said the BBC’s report was false and it has also forcefully denied other claims of human rights abuses in Xinjiang raised by western governments and rights groups.

The Global Times, published by the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper, quoted a Xinjiang Communist Party official on Wednesday as saying that a number of individuals in the region plan to sue the BBC for “producing fake news, spreading rumours about Xinjiang and slandering China’s policy in the region.”

The BBC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Taiwan foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou told Reuters that the ministry could not comment on individual cases but said: “We welcome all reporters from media outlets to come to Taiwan and enjoy freedom of the press and speech.”