[Depth] How outrageous is the BBC's reports on Xinjiang?
[Global Times reporter Fan Lingzhi, Liu Xin, Huang Lanlan, Huang Lanlan, and Chen Shasha] A report on China by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on the 2nd of this month used an eye-popping "conclusion" to once again break through the bottom line of the West's smear of China.
The report claimed that "women in the're-education camps' in Xinjiang, China were systematically raped and tortured," and some Western media quickly followed up on the hype.
However, a "Global Times" reporter's investigation found that the "protagonist" of the report had been interviewed by Western media many times before, and his statement was obviously inconsistent. In the past six months, about 3/4 of the BBC's Xinjiang-related reports did not Signing, such an operation does not conform to its positioning as an "internationally renowned media".
Relevant scholars interviewed by the "Global Times" reporter believe that on China-related issues, the BBC is no longer a news media in the general sense, but has become a tool for systematic ideological attacks on China.
More than one interviewee’s so-called “scene description” is inconsistent
The subjects of the BBC report were several women who claimed to have witnessed "sexual assault" at the Xinjiang Vocational and Technical Education Training Center ("Training and Training Center") and a "guard".
One of the "protagonists" Tursunnayi (transliteration) vividly recounted the details of the beatings, sexual assaults, and electric shocks she had "witnessed" and "experienced".
According to the article, Tursunnayi lived with her husband in Kazakhstan, but her passport was confiscated when she returned to Xinjiang. She entered the education and training center in 2018 and ended her studies at the end of that year.
After that, Tursunnayi, whose passport was returned, went to Kazakhstan, and then fled to the United States with the support of the anti-China organization "Uyghur Human Rights Project". She is currently applying to stay in the United States.
A reporter from the Global Times found that, in fact, this is not the first time Tursunnayi has been interviewed by Western media.
The February 4th article of the American independent political blog site "Alabama Moon" listed the obvious inconsistencies between her previous interview with Western media and this interview.
In an interview with the American media BuzzFeed in February last year, she made it clear: "I was not beaten or abused." The BBC report described in detail the "tragic scenes."
For another example, in a BuzzFeed report, Tursunnayi said that at the education and training center, “the police told women to take off their necklaces and earrings”; in the BBC report, she claimed that “the earrings were torn off and caused bloodshed.” .
The article on the "Moon of Alabama" website also mentioned that Tursun Nayi did not mention that she was "raped" in many previous interviews, and the "Uyghur Human Rights Project" also mentioned in its report after arriving in the United States. Without mentioning, "What she said to the BBC seemed to come from a crudely made pornographic script."
Perhaps out of a guilty conscience, the BBC stated in relevant reports that “it is impossible to completely verify the information provided by Tursunnai” and blamed this on “China’s strict restrictions on reporters in the country”.
Another BBC interview subject Shayiraguli Shavtibayi had the same situation.
"In a recent interview, she claimed to have seen torture and violence in the camp, but in a previous interview, she refuted this claim. In the story, she claimed to have seen mass rape. In the earlier During the interview, she insisted that she did not see any violence at all. She now claims that the detainees in the camp were forced to eat pork, but she earlier stated that there was no meat in the camp.” "Alabama Moon" website The article also stated that Shayila Guli's identity is constantly changing between "teacher" and "detainee".
In fact, as early as December 2019, a reporter from the "Global Times" learned about the true situation of Shayilaguli Shawutibayi: the Kazakh ethnicity, who served as Chahanwusong in Zhaosu County, Ili Prefecture in April 2016 The head of the kindergarten in the township center was dismissed by the local education department in March 2018 due to incompetence at his job and infringing on the interests of teachers to defraud performance bonuses. He was transferred to the elementary school teacher in Chahanwusong Township, Zhaosu County, Ili Prefecture.
Shayilaguli Shawutibayi is suspected of fraud, and so far there is still 249,000 yuan that has not been recovered.
She has never worked in any education and training center, and has never been detained before leaving the country illegally.
"The story changed because Shayilaguli Shavtibayi fell into the hands of a'propaganda group.'" An article on the "Alabama Moon" website stated that Shayi was granted asylum in Sweden. Raguli Shavtibayi united with the "East Turkistan" organization funded by the United States.
The "propaganda organization" here actually refers to the "World Uyghur Council", "Uyghur Human Rights Project" and so on.
According to the survey, since 2016 alone, the National Foundation for Democracy (NED) has provided US$1.284 million in funding for the “World Welfare Committee”, and has also provided millions of US dollars in additional funding for its affiliated organizations.
NED provided nearly US$665,000 to the “World Welfare Council” and its branches in 2018, which reached US$960,000 in 2019.
These funds are not completely listed under the name of the "World Uyghur Council". The "Uyghur Human Rights Project" so-called "Uyghur Human Rights Propaganda and Outreach", "Advocating Uyghur Human Rights through Art Interaction" and other titles, have also received a lot of funds .
According to the US investigation website "Gray Zone" previously disclosed, the "Uyghur Human Rights Project" was spun off from the "American Uyghur Association" in 2004, and NED was its main source of funding. Between 2016 and 2019, the funding amount was as high as US$1.2447 million.
Guilty? About 3/4 of Xinjiang-related reports are not signed
A "Global Times" reporter found a strange phenomenon: in the six months since August last year, from hype "forced labor" to the latest "systemic rape", the BBC has published at least 41 Xinjiang-related articles. Among them, 30 are not signed. These anonymous text reports are usually second-hand quotes from various agencies or other media reports.
In this way, this internationally renowned media that claims to be "accurate and fair" is more like an anonymous website concocting and spreading rumors.
BBC reporters John Sudworth and Matthew Hill are the authors of the media’s only recent signed articles.
But readers found that they fabricated a lot of fake news.
For example, in November 2020, several BBC reporters went outside the Kuqa Pomegranate Seed Clothing Co., Ltd. to try to secretly take photos to prove the existence of "large-scale forced labor" in Xinjiang.
Sha Lei, who wrote the report, trumpeted that he was “repeatedly prevented from filming by the police and local propaganda officials, and was repeatedly followed by vehicles driven by a large number of unidentified people”.
Sha Lei and his team also released footage of quarrels with multiple people outside the pomegranate seed company. A middle-aged man blocked the camera with his hand and was said to be "although the BBC team was only shooting on public roads outside the factory, but it was still multiple times. Was blocked by officials of different identities."
However, a "Global Times" reporter interviewed Jiang Yong, who was called a "propaganda official" by the BBC, and learned that he was only the head of the logistics and security department of the Pomegranate Seed Company. He did not allow Sha Lei and his party to directly face himself at the time, and thus had a dispute.
Jiang Yong revealed that after apologizing, one of the reporters promised that his image would not appear on any public platform. After the report was released, Jiang Yong’s hand-blocking the camera was described as "local officials blocking interviews."
Li Baiyang, a member of the research team of "Research on Basic Science Issues of National Security Management Decision-Making System" and a postdoctoral fellow at the Information Resources Research Center of Wuhan University, told the Global Times reporter that big data shows that starting from 2018, the BBC has begun training in Xinjiang. According to the center's report, since then, the BBC has used all negative words, and the degree of fabricating lies and smearing has become more and more vicious.
“Big data shows that in recent years, Western media has organized and systematically slandered and smeared China’s Xinjiang policies. Three peaks of collective smearing were formed on December 30, 2018, November 24, 2019, and February 2, 2021. In particular, the BBC’s report on Xinjiang’s “systemic rape” on February 2 reached the highest level in recent years.” Li Baiyang said, first of all, after the BBC’s article was published, the “Five Eyes Alliance” countries, India and Japan Media controlled by France, France and other countries (including media set up in other countries or regions) quickly forwarded it. Then, propaganda agencies such as the Voice of America, France, and foreign cult organizations quickly followed up and spread, and there was an obvious phenomenon of "grouping and smearing" .
In Li Baiyang’s view, the people involved in the BBC report either have a strong “anti-China color” or have obvious loopholes in their professional or other backgrounds. For example, the interviewee Zheng Guoen is a so-called “scholar” who is known for his “anti-China”. American conservative think tank; Rahima Mahmut is the head of the London branch of the World Uygur Congress; the author of the article Matthew Hill is a health and hygiene journalist.
Scholars: They are tools used to carry out systematic ideological attacks on China
"The BBC's behavior reflects the decline of this former professional media." Professor Dong Guanpeng, Dean of the School of Government and Public Affairs at Communication University of China, told the Global Times reporter that the BBC, as a media that prides itself on being objective, truthful and accurate, has repeatedly Fake news is shocking.
He predicts that more so-called "internationally renowned media" in the UK will follow the BBC and use false information to discredit China. "The conflict of interests behind the media makes them no longer objective."
"I have only one minimum requirement for you (referring to Western media such as the BBC). As an organization that advertises itself as a news media, it must be able to determine that what you are reporting is a fact, and this fact is a fact that accurately reflects the truth, not a reflection. The facts of your presupposition." In an interview with a reporter from the Global Times, Shen Yi, a professor of the International Politics Department of the School of International Relations and Public Affairs of Fudan University, said that on issues involving China, a type of media represented by the BBC in Europe and the United States It is very special, "it is not the news media in the general sense, but the government's foreign policy tool, a tool used to carry out systematic ideological attacks on China."
Regarding some Western media headed by the BBC who have long been keen to slander China, Shen Yi said that when China approaches the center of the international arena through a certain path and method, it will be recognized or treated fairly by those countries that build the stage, because a small number of Westerners When countries formulate international rules, the goal is that no one enters the center of the international arena through this set of rules, so when China approaches, the Western world's response to China's rise is "China does not abide by the rules."
"For some Western countries, if you follow the rules, you cannot develop. If you develop, it means you have not abide by the rules. So once you rise, the faster you develop, the more negative your evaluation in the international community will be." As the BBC frequently produces fake news related to China, Chinese social media have called for "cancellation of the BBC reporter's visa in China" and "revocation of the BBC's broadcasting and reporting license in China." However, Dong Guanpeng does not recommend this at this stage.
He said that in the face of rumors and slander, the best way is to open the door. "No matter how unreliable the BBC's China-related reports, there are always people in the UK who believe it. This shows that there are indeed many British audiences who know little about China."
Therefore, Dong Guanpeng suggested that China should encourage rather than stop the British from coming, and welcome them to see a real Xinjiang with their own eyes. "When Britain does everything possible to restrict Chinese media and China continues to remain open, the world will see who is more free".