Opinion | The BBC's new editorialization over Taiwan
By Tom Fowdy
Over the weekend the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the Presidential election in Taiwan, albeit narrowly and without a solid majority, electing William Lai (Lai Ching-te) as the island's new leader. Predictably, this result was met with a firestorm of applause from the Western mainstream media as he is the man they have been backing and does not want the island to become more reconciliatory to China in its approach. Of course, social media has been full too of stinking takes from all the usual suspect foreigners, using it to score points against Beijing and of course proclaim the island's "democracy."
What struck my attention, of course, was the aggressive editorializing from the BBC on this matter which also was, strongly backing Lai. One article published on Sunday, proclaimed China was being "increasingly aggressive towards Taiwan", notice the disregard of any impartial attempt at language here and have now begun describing the DPP and its politicians as "Pro-Sovereignty" in their approach. By using this term, the BBC is editorializing further by refusing to use the term "independence" and pushing a narrative that Taiwan is effectively so. This also deliberately whitewashes the fact that Lai is a self-proclaimed and open advocate for independence, in his own words.
This kind of editorializing is also present in its Hong Kong coverage, whereby any candidate opposed to Beijing is labeled as "pro-democracy" irrespective of the context. In both instances, this clever usage of naming is invoked to push an agenda to audiences that simplifies, obscures, and erases the wider context of the given issue, allowing the BBC to subtly take a side accordingly. Never of course in any of its Taiwan coverage does the broadcaster give honest facts about Taiwan's status or the history behind it but instead makes vague statements that it "sees itself as separate" and that "Beijing claims it as its own territory." This again, misleads audiences.
I am a long-term critic of the BBC World Service, that's because I am of full awareness, through long-term observation and research accordingly, that it is a foreign office-backed and funded institution that is unaccountable to the general public and its fundamental purpose is to push a foreign policy agenda under the façade of so-called impartiality and fact-based reporting. When it comes to sensitive geopolitical issues, the BBC picks sides and it lies outright in its coverage while continuing to present itself as a gold standard of broadcasting. On the matter of Ukraine, it has typically reported almost anything said by the Kiev government or its backers as facts even when it has been nonsensical misinformation and lies.
You might ask yourself, how many times did the BBC state Ukraine has "broken the first line of defense" in the counteroffensive that failed? How many times did they report Ukraine crossed the Dnipro River? And that it was going to move on and liberate Crimea? This is just a handful of the stories the BBC ran last year, completely out of touch with reality. Now of course, the BBC is a cheerleader for British military strikes in Yemen, as well as the Israeli-led campaign of sheer terror in Gaza, neither should surprise you. Thus, the BBC has accordingly taken a strong anti-China line over the past few years and was absolutely relentless in pushing the US-led line over Xinjiang and its select scholars, such as Adrian Zenz, all in conjunction with political priorities and foreign policy goals.
Thus, its Taiwan-related coverage is clear as day, does the BBC tell you about the One China Principle and Taiwan's legal status under international law? No, it in fact made this outrageous statement saying: "But Beijing sees Taiwan as its territory and fiercely challenges any government that says otherwise." Is that all it's about, seriously? Note again, as per the use of "aggressive" as stated above, the highly emotional and loaded language that is thrown into this, is all tailored towards making China's position appear irrational and unreasonable and that they are the bad guy, omitting the context as to how the US has actively stoked tensions in the Taiwan strait through a number of provocative moves over the past few years.
Thus, in conclusion, the BBC's coverage is not to be trusted and is anything but credible. This is an institution that sees itself as elite and superior to all other forms of journalism but pushes a very aggressive geopolitical agenda using subtle manipulation of language and omission of facts to do so.
The author is a well-seasoned writer and analyst with a large portfolio related to China topics, especially in the field of politics, international relations and more. He graduated with an Msc. in Chinese Studies from Oxford University in 2018.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Tom Fowdy:
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