Graphic: Xu Zihe, Feng Qingyin/GT

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has lodged solemn representations to the head of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in China over its twisted and groundless reports on the Henan floods. 

BBC's recent reports on the huge rainstorm in Central China's Henan Province twisted the facts that the Chinese government was sparing no effort to organize rescue work and local residents were doing their best to save themselves, and made insinuations against and attacked the Chinese government, the ministry said in a statement released on their website Tuesday.

The reports are full of ideological prejudice and double standards, the ministry noted. 

BBC not only did not reflect on their own problems after their reports encountered criticisms from Chinese people, but called black white and made rash criticisms of China, the ministry said, noting that this is why they made the solemn representation. 

The ministry stressed that foreign journalists in China enjoy legitimate rights to interview freely according to the law, but at the same time they should obey China's laws and regulations and produce objective, balanced and accurate reports. The ministry urged the BBC to abandon its ideological prejudice and double standards, stop smearing and attacking China and make up their "credibility deficit" with actions.  

In a recent report, BBC journalist Robin Brant intentionally stated that "passengers [were] left to die on the platform [during the Zhengzhou metro flood tragedy]." 

"He [Brant]chose to ignore the Chinese government's unsparing rescue efforts and the courageous local people who saved themselves, but continued to put ideology above the truth," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said previously. 

After Brant's report triggered public anger in China, Deutsche Welle (DW) correspondent Mathias Bolinger was surrounded by local people in Henan who mistook him for Brant, prompting the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China to release a statement on July 27 on Twitter expressing its concerns over "harassment of journalists covering devastating floods" in Henan. 

BBC also posted a statement on Twitter on the same day that read, "There must be immediate action by the Chinese government to stop these attacks which continue to endanger foreign journalists."

Global Times