The BBC announced the incident in a statement on its official Twitter account. The BBC is proud of Sha Lei’s award-winning reporting during his Time in Beijing, and he remains our correspondent covering news in mainland China,” the statement said.
The Chinese Communist Party has previously criticized the BBC for baseless reports accusing Beijing of violating the human rights of the Uighur people in Xinjiang. The Chinese Communist Party banned BBC World News last month in response to criticism of the BBC by the Chinese Embassy in the UK.
The BBC reported today that Sha Lei, who has been in China for nine years, has left the country for Taiwan with his Family after feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the pressure and threats from the Chinese Communist authorities.
According to the report, Sha Lei and his family were followed by plainclothes security officers all the way to the airport until they boarded the plane. His wife, Yvonne Murray, a China-based correspondent for the Irish Broadcasting Corporation (RTE), also left China with him.
Sha Lei noted that whenever he and his team tried to film, they were monitored, threatened with legal action, interfered with and intimidated. His colleagues are still in Beijing, while he will be reporting from Taiwan.
RTE, to which Murray belongs, said she and Sha Lei decided to leave with their three children due to increasing pressure from the Chinese Communist authorities.
We left in a hurry,” Murray said. We were under pressure and threats from the Communist authorities, which had been going on for some time, but it became too much. The authorities had a problem with my husband’s reporting. He works for the BBC and reports closely on the imprisonment of Uighurs in Xinjiang and the origin of the virus.”
She said she is currently in 14-day quarantine at a hotel in Taipei and will continue to cover mainland China and broader issues from Taiwan.
Sha Lei and his wife have been in mainland China for a long time. We have two children born in mainland China, and they both speak Chinese fluently,” she said. For them, it’s Home, and it’s frustrating to think that if the Communist authorities continue to target and punish journalists who are simply doing their jobs, they may never be able to go back.”
But she also said, “We will try to remember those memories. Mainland China is a particularly colorful and culturally rich country, and the friendships we’ve built with its people over the years will not be taken away from us. The plainclothes followed us until we left, and while this is a sad parting memory, it will not erase the happy memories.”
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