The wife of former Cabinet Minister Jeremy Hunt presents a TV show for China’s state-run media that has been accused of ‘whitewashing’ the Communist Party’s human rights abuses.
Lucia Guo is a mother to three children and was previously Health Secretary as well as Foreign Secretary. She appears on China Hour on Sky TV, which showcases Chinese culture for a UK audience.
It is made by the state-owned China International TV Corporation and British-based Dove Media, in partnership with the Communist regime’s tourist office in London.
The programme has featured reports on the effectiveness of China’s pandemic response and about the beauty of the Xinjiang region without mentioning it is the site of ‘re-education’ camps for its persecuted Muslim Uighur population.
Ms Guo, who is originally from the city of Xi’an in central China, hosts a feature on the show called Signature Flowers of China.
The broadcast has been available since September, and it is also accessible on YouTube.
Lucia Guo, the wife of former Cabinet Minister Jeremy Hunt, presents a TV show for China’s state-run media that has been accused of ‘whitewashing’ the Communist Party’s human rights abuses
Ms Guo, who is originally from the city of Xi’an in central China, hosts a feature on China Hour called Signature Flowers of China
Human rights campaigners at the US research institute Freedom House last year accused China Hour of being part of the Chinese Communist Party’s international media web.
The programme has been praised in Beijing for its viewing figures while its reports on the pandemic have been credited with ‘playing a unique role in communicating the Chinese narration of the epidemic to the world’.
But Sarah Cook, senior research analyst at Freedom House, said shows like China Hour were used to help Beijing whitewash the regime’s abuses.
‘It’s about embedding content from Chinese state media or made in collaboration with Chinese state media that local audiences are already watching,’ she said.
‘And that’s what’s very insidious about it. Yes, some of it is innocuous, but effectively it’s whitewashing a horrifically authoritarian and brutal regime.’
The programme has featured reports on the effectiveness of China’s pandemic response and about the beauty of the Xinjiang region without mentioning it is the site of ‘re-education’ camps for its persecuted Muslim Uighur population. Pictured is a housing complex in Yangisar China
Pictured: In June 2019, a re-education camp was established in China’s Western Xianjing area.
A delegation was led by Mr Hunt to China five years ago when he was Health Secretary. This visit led to a UK-China media production agreement and launched China Hour on Sky Channel 19.
Now chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, Mr Hunt was a strong opponent to Boris Johnson and could be considered if the Prime Minister is again challenged.
When Ms Guo began recruiting Chinese students at Warwick University in 2008, he met her.
Mr Hunt, now chair of the health and social care select committee, met Ms Guo in 2008 when she was recruiting Chinese students for Warwick University
In a statement, the makers of China Hour said the programme was a ‘commercial operation aimed at increasing programme sales for the China International TV Corporation and generating advertising revenue for both parties’.
They added that its editors have ‘decades of experience’ in reporting ‘national and international news in a balanced and impartial way’ but that, in any event, the programme ‘does not have a news remit and we stick to lifestyle programmes’.
Dove Media Group participates in the Global Chinese Media Co-operation Forum.
Ms Guo and Mr Hunt declined to comment.