The BBC moved its China correspondent to Taiwan after Beijing attacked him for reporting on the Uyghurs
- The BBC says John Sudworth, its China correspondent, has relocated to Taiwan.
- China attacked both the reporter and the broadcaster for coverage of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region.
- China in February also barred BBC World News from broadcasting in the country.
The BBC on Wednesday said it had relocated its China correspondent to Taiwan, a move that came after Chinese government attacks on both the reporter and the broadcaster over coverage of the Uyghurs in the country's Xinjiang region.
The BBC did not give a specific reason for John Sudworth's relocation but said: "John's work has exposed truths that Chinese authorities did not want the world to know."
Sudworth's recent reports include the origins of the coronavirus and China's use of Uyghurs and other minority groups for manual labor in cotton fields. China denies doing this.
China has constructed hundreds of prisons and detention centers in and near Xinjiang, and at least a million Uighurs have been detained there. China calls them "reeducation camps," but reports detail numerous human-rights abuses and psychological abuse.
A BBC News producer in Shanghai shared a link to Sudworth's reporting after a journalist with the state-owned Global Times tabloid described Sudworth as hiding in Taiwan:
China in February barred BBC World News from broadcasting in the country, accusing the broadcaster of reporting "fake" news.
The BBC said at the time it was "disappointed" in the decision, and UK politicians condemned the move.
That ban came days after the BBC published a report featuring interviews with Uyghur women who said they were systematically raped, sexually abused, and tortured in China's camps. China said the BBC made a "false report."
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China said on Wednesday that it was "concerned and saddened" to learn that Sudworth had left China "amid concerns for his safety and that of his family."
It said that "Sudworth left after months of personal attacks and disinformation targeting him and his BBC colleagues, disseminated by both Chinese state media and Chinese government officials."
It also urged China to "facilitate unhindered reporting" in the country.