The BBC's China editor has resigned her position in Beijing in protest over what she called a failure to sufficiently address a gap in compensation between men and women at the public broadcaster.

Carrie Gracie's departure is the latest aftershock from the public corporation's forced publication last year of pay levels for its top earners that showed two-thirds of those in the top bracket were men.

A 30-year veteran of the BBC, Gracie said in a statement on her website addressed to BBC viewers that she could no longer perform her job at a high level while battling with bosses over pay equality.

Gracie said she learned that two of the BBC's four international editors — both men — made at least 50 percent more than their two female counterparts.

She added that there is a “crisis of trust” at the BBC and the broadcaster is “not living up to its stated values of trust, honesty and accountability”.

She said that with the publication of the pay levels last year, "for the first time, women saw hard evidence of what they’d long suspected, that they are not being valued equally."

"Mine is just one story of inequality among many, but I hope it will help you understand why I feel obliged to speak out," Gracie added.

She added that she had been urged by the BBC to take up the post of China editor four years ago and did so on the condition of equal pay, knowing that the job would require "sacrifices and resilience."

In her statement, Gracie called on the BBC to "admit the problem, apologise and set in place an equal, fair and transparent pay structure."

"To women of any age in any workplace who are confronting pay discrimination, I wish you the solidarity of a strong sisterhood and the support of male colleagues," she said before concluding her statement.