The Chinese government and state media have picked up on the controversy that erupted last week when Professor Deborah Brautigam, director of the China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University, complained on Twitter that the BBC had edited her comments on allegations of ‘Chinese debt-trap diplomacy’ in such a way that distorted her remarks.
While the BBC later apologized to Brautigam, blaming an “inexperienced producer,” the story lit up Twitter, particularly among pro-China users critical of the British news organization’s coverage on topics related to Xinjiang.