The European Union called on China, Saturday, to reverse its ban on the broadcasting of the BBC’s international news service (BBC World News), citing the Associated Press.

China banned the BBC’s international news service from being broadcast on its television networks, Friday, and the Hong Kong government broadcasting organization said it would stop broadcasting the BBC’s global service, a week after Britain canceled its broadcasting license Chinese State Television.

The Times, The Independent and the Telegraph described the Chinese decision as a “retaliatory reaction” because of the British Media Regulatory Authority Ofcom’s decision to revoke the broadcast license for China International Television Network Speaking in English (CGTN) on the fourth of this month.

According to what was published by “BBC”, the decision of Ofcom was issued based on the discovery that the “CGTN” license was made Wrongly booked by Star China Media Ltd., while the TV network is directly affiliated with the Beijing government. CGTN also committed an offense that violated British broadcasting rules last year by broadcasting an alleged forced confession of British citizen Peter Humphrey.

And British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab posted a tweet on Twitter, In it, he described China’s decision as an “unacceptable restriction on the freedom of the media,” and said that it would only “harm China’s reputation in the eyes of the world.”

According to the BBC, the US State Department condemned the Chinese decision and described it. It is part of a wider campaign to suppress free media in China.

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