China-UK Relations

Diplomatic tensions between China and the United Kingdom continue to rise. After the expulsion of three Chinese diplomats and the revocation of the broadcasting license for the news station CGTN, China is now reacting in turn by banning the international service of the British BBC, the station BBC World News.

The station was banned for "illegal content" because it violated reporting guidelines in the country, the China Broadcasting Regulatory Commission announced. BBC World News will no longer be allowed to broadcast in mainland China, according to the statement. It said it "does not accept the new annual broadcasting application."

Three Chinese citizens - suspected to be spies posing as journalists - must leave Great Britain. This was reported by the Daily Telegraph with reference to a high-ranking government source in London.

The MI5 intelligence service uncovered the true identities of the three spies; the report continues. They had been working for the Chinese Ministry of State Security. According to the report, all three individuals claimed to "work for three different Chinese media agencies" and had entered the country in the past 12 months.

The communications watchdog, Ofcom, said it revoked the U.K. license for China Global Television Network, or CGTN, an international English language satellite news channel. Losing its British broadcasting license is a major setback for CGTN, which has been a key element of the Chinese government's push to expand its soft power and burnish its image abroad.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded with renewed criticism of the BBC., specifically a January 29th report on Covid-19 in China, calling it "typical fake news" and demanding a public apology.

Up to 5.4 million people in Hong Kong could apply to the new visa and relocate to the UK. The government estimates 300,000 might apply in the next five years.

China has told Britain to "immediately correct its mistakes" after the UK reaffirmed its plan to offer a route to British citizenship to almost three million people living there.

The United Kingdoms foreign secretary Dominic Raab has stated in an address to the parliament that the newly passed and enacted national security law is "a clear and serious violation of the UK-China joint declaration" and adding that the United Kingdom "will hold China to its international obligations".

The suspension of the extradition deal with Hong Kong is indefinitely and the arms embargo against China has been extended to include Hong Kong.

The UK government announced Tuesday a ban on Huawei 5G wireless network equipment. The ban requires all existing Huawei 5G tech to be purged entirely from the country's network by the end of 2027.

UK Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden said: "Following US sanctions against Huawei and updated technical advice from our cyber experts, the government has decided it is necessary to ban Huawei from our 5G networks.".

Huawei said in a statement: "Regrettably our future in the UK has become politicised, this is about US trade policy and not security."