China Ambassador accuses UK of slander over incident With BBC
Earlier today, the Chinese Ambassador to the UK was summoned to the British Foreign Office on Tuesday for a dress-down over the incident which involved allegations over the beating of BBC journalist Edward Lawrence.
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Earlier today, the Chinese Ambassador to the UK was summoned to the British Foreign Office on Tuesday
The Chinese embassy to the UK published a statement on Tuesday accusing London of slandering China over an incident that involved the alleged beating of a BBC journalist by Chinese law enforcement in Shanghai.
Earlier today, the Chinese Ambassador to the UK was summoned to the British Foreign Office on Tuesday for a dress-down over the incident in which BBC journalist Edward Lawrence was allegedly detained and beaten on Monday by the police while covering a protest against Covid-19 restrictions in Shanghai on Sunday.
During a press brief, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the journalist "refused to go and the entire time did not identify himself as a journalist. The police then took him away from the scene. After verifying his identity and informing him of pertinent laws and regulations, the police let him leave. [...] This BBC journalist refused to cooperate with the police’s law enforcement efforts and then acted as if he were a victim."
"The BBC immediately twisted the story and massively propagated the narrative that its journalist had been “arrested” and “beaten” by police while he was working, simply to try to paint China as the guilty party. This deliberate distortion of truth is all too familiar as part of the BBC’s distasteful playbook," the spokesman added.
In recent weeks, China has been the object of heavy criticism over its zero-tolerance policy toward Covid-19.
China's Zero Covid policy has been described as an oppressive means of controlling its own population, whereas, in reality, such a policy is a luxury that many countries cannot afford to implement due to the heavy toll its implementation would have on the GDP.
Due to the severity of some outbreaks across the country, the Chinese authorities have ordered partial lockdowns in certain areas, as well as mandatory PCR testing on a daily basis.
China has all along put the people and their lives above all else. We follow the general approach of “preventing both imported cases and domestic resurgences” and a dynamic zero-Covid policy. We have ensured progress in both COVID response and economic and social development.
— Zheng Zeguang (@AmbZhengZeguang) November 28, 2022
