Chinese state media pulls TV coverage of Arsenal game after Mesut Ozil shows Uyghur support

Chinese state media on Sunday pulled coverage of Arsenal’s English Premier League game against Manchester City after its midfielder Mesut Ozil posted social media messages in support of China’s Muslim Uyghur minority.

“(In China) Qurans are burned, mosques were closed down, Islamic theological schools, madrasas were banned, religious scholars were killed one by one. Despite all this, Muslims stay quiet,” Ozil, who is a Muslim, said in a post on both Twitter and Instagram.

The US State Department has said that for the past two-and-a-half years, China has detained up to 2 million Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority, in what some describe as internment camps.

Mesut Ozil (L) in action for Arsenal against West Ham on December 9.

Allegations of abuse are rampant, including in firsthand accounts given to CNN describing torture and forced political re-education under the threat of violence.

Defending his country’s human rights record at a United Nations forum in early November, Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Yucheng said that his country had made “remarkable progress” in the past four decades, including “lifting more than a billion people out of poverty.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Monday that Ozil had been “blinded by some fake news,” and wasn’t aware of the true situation in Xinjiang.

“We also welcome Mr. Ozil to come to Xinjiang and take a look. As long as he has a conscience, and is able to distinguish right from wrong, and adheres to the principles of objectivity and fairness, he will see a different Xinjiang,” Geng said.

CCTV had originally planned to air the game live on CCTV-5 – the station’s sports channel – at 12:30 a.m on December 16 local time.

CCTV, which rarely explains why it changes its airing schedule, did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment as to the reasoning behind the decision not to show the game, which was the Premier League’s leading match on Sunday.

Premier League champion Manchester City beat Arsenal 3-0 to stay in touch with leaders Liverpool.

Mesut Ozil was named in Arsenal's starting XI to face Manchester City on Sunday.

Chinese video streaming website PPTV – a popular online platform – has also pulled the game from its schedule.

Online sports platform Sina Sports released a post on Sina Weibo: “Ozil’s remarks have upset his fans in China. Just because he’s a well-known sportsman, it doesn’t give him the right to comment on issues relating to the national interests and he needs to explain himself.”

Dongqiudi.com, one of the most popular soccer sites in China, released a statement on Friday saying::”Freedom of speech has boundaries and it should be used on the basis of respecting other countries’ sovereignty, not interfering in their domestic affairs.”

Meanwhile in an interview with state-owned newspaper Global Times on Friday, a Chinese Football Association (CFA) official expressed his “great indignation and disappointment” at Ozil’s remarks.

“‘East Turkistan’ is not an ethnic or religious matter, but a matter of separatism, terrorism and extremism, which is being spurned by peace-lovers all over the world,” the CFA said in a statement quoted by Global Times.

“Ozil’s remarks not only hurt many Chinese fans who liked him, but also hurt the feelings of the Chinese people. It is unacceptable to us.”

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Updated 5:15 AM EST, Mon December 16, 2019

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‘Apolitical organization’

In a statement sent to CNN, Arsenal said it was “always apolitical as an organization.”

“Following social media messages from Mesut Ozil on Friday, Arsenal Football Club must make it clear that these are Mesut’s personal views,” added the Arsenal statement on Sunday.

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This isn’t the first time that sport and politics in China have collided in 2019.

In October the NBA’s relationship with China was tested following a now-deleted tweet by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey expressing support for anti-government protests in Hong Kong. An estimated 300 million people play basketball in China.

In September, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying slammed US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who had said that China was attempting to “erase its own citizens” in Xinjiang and called on countries around the world to “resist China’s demands to repatriate” Uyghurs.

READ: Liverpool beats Watford to extend Premier League run

Hua called Pompeo’s statement “utterly defamatory and groundless,” adding that Beijing urged relevant US officials to face the facts, be objective and fair, and not adopt double standards on counter-terrorism, let alone to use this as an excuse to launch unwarranted attacks against China,” referring to Beijing’s claims that activities in Xinjiang are about stemming a terrorist threat in the region.

Additional reportlng by David Culver and Lily Lee