UK Ambassador to China Caroline Wilson Photo: VCG
Former Chinese Ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming never initiated a dispute or attacked the British system in his articles published in foreign platforms, while the British ambassador to China Caroline Wilson preached the so-called Western experience in an arrogant tone and made irresponsible remarks about the Chinese system and media to interfere in China's internal affairs, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
Liu published articles in foreign media with the aim of enhancing the understanding of China and China-UK relations in an objective and positive way, and to clarify the many false statements and slanders against China made in the UK, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at Wednesday's media briefing.
In fact, Liu could not publish articles in British media as "free" as Wilson said, and Liu's articles have been repeatedly rejected in recent years, Zhao said.
Wilson said in her tweet on Tuesday that "No doubt the outgoing Chinese Ambassador to the UK stands by the 170+ pieces he was free to place in mainstream British media."
Zhao said Wilson's article published on the WeChat account of the British embassy to China was confused in its logic, and did not mention anything about British media's false reports on China and deliberately mixed up news supervision and libel.
She preached the so-called Western experience in an arrogant tone and made irresponsible remarks about the Chinese system and media with the purpose of interfering in China's internal affairs, reflecting her consistent double standards and deep-seated ideological bias, Zhao said.
The duty of diplomatic agencies is to promote bilateral friendly relations, and diplomats bear the obligation of not interfering in the internal affairs of the countries they are stationed in, Zhao said.
This is a bottom line that must be abided by, Zhao said.
Wilson was summoned by the Department of European Affairs of China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday after she wrote the article on March 2, in which she said that China has a "bias" against foreign media.
The Western media's credibility in China is continually declining and has proven to be untrustworthy and unqualified to report in the country. Chinese netizens have also mocked British media such as the BBC. A video titled "How to be a good BBC reporter" mocking the tricks used by BBC to distort news through shooting and post-production techniques went viral on Chinese social media and won high praise among Chinese netizens in early February.
Global Times