China summons UK ambassador over 'biased' article

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) – China on Tuesday put the British ambassador on notice for an article which Beijing branded “biased” and “filled with arrogance.”

According to the state-run Global Times, China’s Foreign Ministry summoned UK Ambassador in Beijing Caroline Wilson regarding her “previous complaints in an article about China’s news environment.”

Wilson’s article was “biased and filled with arrogance, and didn't fit her role as a diplomat,” the ministry noted.

In a piece earlier shared on WeChat account of the UK Embassy in Beijing on March 2, Wilson had asked: “Do foreign media really hate China?”

It triggered a volley of responses from Chinese social media users and was later banned from sharing, the China Daily website reported.

Earlier in the day, the Chinese Foreign Ministry asked the UK broadcast regulator Ofcom to reverse a ban on China Global Television Network (CGTN).

CGTN is an international English language satellite news channel that can be accessed via satellite from the UK.

Ofcom blocked CGTN in the UK last month and said it had “withdrawn the license for CGTN to broadcast in the UK after its investigation concluded that the license is wrongfully held by Star China Media Limited.”

In what appeared to be a tit-for-tat move, Beijing later banned the telecast of BBC World in China and the next day Hong Kong also pulled down the international news channel from the telecast.