[ad_1]
The Chinese Embassy in Ireland responded to reports of an Irish journalist fleeing China with her family for safety with a strange thread of tweets.
TÉ journalist Yvonne Murray spoke yesterday about how she had to flee China with her children due to sinister threats to her husband.
The couple moved to Taiwan after what was described as constant surveillance of Mr. Sudworth by Chinese police, threats of legal action, official obstruction and increasing levels of intimidation.
Mr. Sudworth has won numerous awards for his coverage of controversial issues in China, including the treatment of the Uighur people in Xinjiang and cotton produced through forced labor.
His coverage sparked a huge backlash from the Chinese authorities. China also attacked major Western companies, including Nike and H&M, over the cotton issue.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s News at One yesterday, Ms. Murray said; “We rushed out last week and it was really because the pressure and threats from the Chinese government became excessive.”
In response to last night’s Twitter story, the Chinese embassy in Ireland said “no one forced” Ms Murray to leave.
They added; “The tabloid presentation sells paper, but not for long.”
The thread, in the official account of the embassy, said; “She” made the decision to leave, “in her own words. Leave or come back? —- it’s up to her. No one has forced her or will force her. The tabloid presentation sells paper but not for long.
“Her husband, a BBC China correspondent, has been heavily criticized by many Chinese for his unfair, unobjective and biased reporting on China and some individuals and entities in Xinjiang, China are considering suing him for the serious harm his reporting has caused. . in them.
“Journalists may feel that they should have the right to say what they want. After all……”
They posted a link to a web page on Lawyer.ie detailing the Defamation Act of 2009 and wrote; “[This] it may help to understand why the BBC’s reports on China have come under heavy criticism. “
They also cited the Irish Constitution, in writing; “Article 40.6.1.i of the Irish Constitution says that the State guarantees the right of citizens to freely express their convictions and opinions. But the right to free speech in Ireland is not absolute.
“Article 10 (2) subjects this freedom to restrictions” that are necessary … in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public security “,
The embassy also published a picture of Aesops Fables, writing; “Who is the wolf?
“Some people accused China of so-called ‘wolf warrior diplomacy’. In his well-known fable, Aesop described how the Wolf accused the Lamb of committing crimes.
“The wolf is the wolf, not the lamb. By the way, China is not a lamb. “
Ms. Murray and her husband, Mr. Sudworth, are now in Taiwan.
Said Mrs. Murray; “On the morning of our departure, there were plainclothes police outside our house watching us and our children loading our bags into a taxi.
“Then they followed us all the way to the airport, watched by the secret police in the check-in area. This was very scary for the kids and it definitely confirmed to us that we were making the right decision.“
She continued; “Now we are in Taipei, locked in a quarantine hotel for 14 days. Then we plan to continue reporting on China and the wider region from here.
“There are already some foreign correspondents based in Taipei now, after a round of expulsions from mainland China last year, mainly American journalists.
“But there are others who left China during the pandemic and are trying to return, but China canceled the journalists’ visas and they cannot return and stay in Taipei.
“Our experience here speaks to the broader situation in China for foreign journalists: conditions have deteriorated rapidly in recent years. The space to report in the country is shrinking more and more, as is the pool of foreign correspondents there.
“There are very few American journalists left and no Australian. Now that I’m gone, there are no Irish journalists left.
“It was very hard to leave. Two of our three children were born in China and they all speak Chinese fluently.
“For them it is home, and it was particularly distressing for them to face the reality that they may never be able to return to the place where they were born as long as the Chinese state is so determined to attack and punish journalists for simply doing their job.”
“The Chinese government tells us that our reports suggest that we hate China, that is not the case. We would not have stayed that long if we had not liked China: it is an extraordinarily colorful, vibrant and culturally rich country.
“As for the memories and friendships we forged with the Chinese over the years, they cannot be taken from us. Since the secret police followed us when we left, it is a sad memory, but it cannot erase all the other happy memories we have from China. “
The BBC insisted that it was very proud of Sudworth and his reporting and confirmed that he remains its correspondent in China.
A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the authorities had not received prior notification.
“Only in the last few days, when faced with the task of renewing Sudworth’s press card, did we learn that Sudworth left without saying goodbye. After he left the country, he in no way informed the relevant departments or provided any reason, ”Hua Chunying said at a press conference in Beijing.
The BBC said: “John’s reports have exposed truths that the Chinese authorities did not want the world to know.” Last year, China expelled correspondents for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall street journalAnd in September 2020, the last two reporters working in China for the Australian media flew home after a five-day diplomatic standoff.
The Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) of China says foreign journalists are “caught up in diplomatic disputes beyond their control.”
“The abuse by Sudworth and his BBC colleagues is part of a broader pattern of harassment and intimidation that obstructs the work of foreign correspondents in China and exposes their Chinese news aides to increasing pressure,” the FCC warned in Twitter
Online editors
[ad_2]