力挺CGTN的英国人发声：英国官方的理由“虚伪牵强”！

Editor's note: Fiona Edwards is a member of the Organising Committee of the No Cold War international campaign and a signatory of the open letter protesting Britain’s ban on CGTN.
编者按：菲奥娜·爱德华兹是“拒绝新冷战”全球倡议组委会成员, 反对英国封禁CGTN公开信的签署人之一。本文仅为作者观点，不一定代表CGTN立场。

A number of leading journalists and media figures in Britain and the West have issued an open letter attacking the recent decision of the British authorities to remove the broadcasting licence of China’s English language TV channel, CGTN. These include the multiple award-winning journalist John Pilger; Oliver Stone, a three times Oscar winning film director, producer and screenwriter; and Tariq Ali, who is one of the best known international figures in the Western anti-war movement. Other leading journalists and media figures have also signed this open letter.

多名英国以及其他西方国家的知名记者和媒体人联名签署了一份公开信，抗议近期英国当局撤销中国英语新闻频道中国国际电视台（CGTN）的在英广播许可。获奖记者约翰·皮尔格（John Pilger）、电影导演、三届奥斯卡奖得主奥利佛·斯通（Oliver Stone）和全球最知名的西方反战人士之一塔里克·阿里（Tariq Ali）等知名记者和媒体人签署了这封公开信。

The letter notes that Britain’s decision to take CGTN off air is an attempt to silence a real debate on China within British society. 

公开信指出，撤销CGTN在英广播许可的决定是企图扼杀英国社会内部有关中国的真正讨论。

The ‘official’ reason given for the British broadcasting authorities’ decision to ban CGTN is clearly hypocritical and a frame up.  It claims that CGTN’s license was revoked because any holder of a broadcasting licence in Britain must not be controlled by political bodies. However, it is publicly stated, and widely known, that CGTN is a Chinese state broadcaster with a similar status to that of the BBC, France Télévisions, NHK (Japan), and others. Viewers can therefore take this into account in viewing its programmes. Yet the British authorities are only applying this law in a highly selective and politicised way in order to effectively exclude voices from China within Britain’s public discussion. 

关于针对CGTN的禁令，英国广播监管部门给出的“官方”理由显然是虚伪牵强的。该部门声称，撤销CGTN的播放许可是因为任何英国广播执照的持有者都不应受到政治机构的控制。然而，CGTN作为国家广播机构，与英国广播公司(BBC)，法国电视台(France Télévisions)和日本放送协会(NHK)等媒体的地位相当，这是公开的、众所周知的事实。英国政府出于政治原因有选择性地执行这一法规，目的是将中国声音排除在英国的公共讨论之外。

As the open letter points out: “numerous private and state channels have clear political agendas or control – the BBC itself, for example, which had its staff vetted by MI5 has not had its broadcasting licence revoked.”

该公开信指出，“众多私营和国有电视频道都有明确的政治议程或受其控制。BBC本身就是一个例子。虽然BBC的所有员工都必须接受军情五处的审查，但其广播执照从未被吊销过。”

The fact that Britain security service – MI5 – has directly vetted the BBC’s staff since its earliest days confirms that fact that Britain’s public broadcaster has been very tightly controlled by the British state for decades. This coordination of the BBC with military intelligence was organised from a special office inside the BBC’s headquarters. There was a formal procedure that all staff should be vetted by MI5 except "personnel such as charwomen [cleaners]." The BBC agreed not to reveal the role of the British Security Services or the existence of the vetting itself.

自BBC成立之初，英国安全部门军情五处就对其所有员工进行审查。这说明，该公共广播机构数十年来一直处于英国政府的严密控制下。BBC总部还设有专门负责协调其与军事情报部门工作的特别办公室。除“清洁工” 等人员外，所有BBC员工在入职时都要接受军情五处的审查，这是必须的正式程序。BBC同意不公开英国安全局与自己的牵连，也不承认存在审查制度。

Britain’s decision to revoke CGTN’s broadcasting licence comes at a time of growing hostility and aggression towards China which is being led by the US administration in Washington. 

英国做出撤销CGTN广播许可的决定时，以美国政府为首的一些国家正对中国表示出越来越强的敌意和攻击性。

The British government has unfortunately aligned itself behind such new cold war steps against China having recently decided to increase Britain’s military spending to the tune of £24 billion over the next four years. As reported in The Diplomat on 7 November 2020, Britain is also engaged in provocative military aggression against China with plans to deploy its new aircraft carrier, the Queen Elizabeth, to the South China Sea alongside an American destroyer as part of a flotilla of nine ships.

遗憾的是，英国政府也选择加入这一阵营，做出针中国的新冷战式的举动。近期，英国政府决定在接下来的四年里将军费支出增加至240亿英镑。《外交学者》杂志2020年11月7日的一篇文章指出，英国还参与发动对华的军事挑衅，有计划将其新航母“伊丽莎白女王号”部署至中国南海，与一艘美国驱逐舰一起，组成一支有9艘舰船的小型舰队。

For Britain to be participating in acts of belligerence towards China – in the form of sending vast quantities of armaments to China’s coastline - at the same time as reducing the space for public dialogue and debate by revoking CGTN’s broadcasting licence is clearly extremely dangerous and not in the interests of either the British or Chinese people. 

英国一方面参与对华军事挑衅，向中国海岸线部署大量武器装备，一方面又通过吊销CGTN的广播许可来限制相关的公共讨论和辩论，这显然是极其危险且不符合中英两国人民利益的。

As the open letter notes, the decision to ban CGTN in Britain comes at a moment when: “it is crucial to build mutual understanding between peoples and also to accurately comprehend the positions of the chief actors in the global situation. Denying a voice to China’s CGTN hampers this.”

正如公开信所述，在这样的时刻，“建立各国人民间的互信和准确理解国际事务主要参与者的立场是至关重要的。剥夺CGTN的发声权利会对此构成阻碍。”

Instead of undertaking aggressive steps towards China the US and Britain should step back and seek global cooperation to tackle the very urgent common problems facing humanity including defeating the pandemic, ensuring a global economic recovery, and preventing catastrophic climate change. 

美国和英国不应对中国屡屡发出挑衅，而是应该缓和态度，寻求通过合作解决人类共同面临的紧迫问题，包括控制疫情、促进全球经济复苏和阻止灾难性的气候变化。 

In order to advance such an agenda of global cooperation, genuine international dialogue and discussion to build understanding is needed. It is therefore very important to build up public pressure to demand that Britain reinstates CGTN’s broadcasting licence in order provide the British public with an opportunity to hear from a Chinese perspective. It is hoped that the open letter that has been signed by high profile journalist and media figures in the West will contribute towards galvanising public opinion in support of CGTN being permitted to broadcast in Britain once again.  

为推进这样的国际合作议程，国际社会需要通过真诚的对话和讨论增强相互理解。因此，目前非常重要的是向英国政府施加更强的公众压力，要求其恢复CGTN的广播许可，使英国公众有机会了解中国观点。希望由知名西方记者和媒体人联名签署的公开信能够进一步激发支持CGTN的公众舆论，使之重新获得在英播放许可。

The open letter is backed by British supporters of the No Cold War international campaign which was launched in July 2020. Its aim is to build the broadest possible opposition to the new US-led cold war against China and Britain’s participation in this dangerous aggression which is a threat to all humanity. 

这封公开信得到了2020年7月发起的“拒绝新冷战”全球倡议英国支持者的支持。该倡议的目的是最大限度地反对美国发起对华新冷战并反对英国参与这一对全人类构成威胁的危险议程。

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