"BBC has invested more than £150million in Chinese state-owned companies accused of links to appalling human rights violations", 6 Dec 2021

The BBC [pension fund] has invested more than £150million in Chinese state-owned companies accused of links to appalling human rights violations [...] Documents show that the BBC’s pension fund holds undisclosed interests in six Chinese firms [including China Construction Bank Corporation (CCB), ecommerce platform Alibaba, internet giant Tencent, tech firm NetEase, and agricultural tech firm Pinduoduo], [and China Overseas Land and Investment] that is part of a company blacklisted by the United States government.

Beijing, aided by dozens of tightly-controlled private firms, is accused of persecuting Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang region, where two million people are allegedly locked up in horrific ‘re-education camps’ where they allegedly face forced sterilisation, torture, and death.

Earlier this year, John Sudworth, the BBC’s award-winning Beijing correspondent, fled China for Taiwan following threats from the Chinese authorities. He had reported widely on China’s persecution of Uighurs [...]

In 2019 the BBC held undisclosed interests in two other state-owned banks - the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China [ICBC] and the Agricultural Bank of China - meaning the BBC’s pension fund has, at some point, invested in three of the ‘big four’ Chinese state-owned banks. [...]

Alibaba and Tencent regularly collaborate with the Chinese state to maintain internet censorship and have allegedly provided the CCP with surveillance software used against Uighurs. [...] Last year it was revealed that Alibaba had developed facial recognition and surveillance software potentially capable of detecting the faces of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities. The company claimed it had just been for ‘testing’ - despite Alibaba’s own website openly offering the technology as a live feature. [...]

A BBC spokesman said: ‘The scheme, which is operationally independent from the BBC, invests in a wide range of investments with a small proportion invested in Chinese companies. The Scheme has published a responsible investment policy and its fund managers are required to take environmental, social and governance factors into account when making investment decisions.’