China pans U.S. report on human rights

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the China section of the State Department’s annual report on U.S. efforts to support democracy worldwide “turned a blind eye to solid facts, attacking irresponsibly China’s human rights.”

“We express our strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition,” Qin said in a statement posted on the ministry’s Web site. “A lot of efforts have been made to expand democracy and reinforce the rule of law in China. Human rights in China have made new progress constantly.”

The report, released Thursday, detailed Washington’s moves to promote human rights, democracy and the rule of law in China — including moves by U.S. President George W. Bush to advocate the release of political prisoners in his meetings last year with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, and other approaches.

“However, the Communist Party’s ongoing concern with growing social unrest led to deteriorating human rights in some areas,” the report said. “The Chinese government continued to deny citizens basic democratic rights, and law enforcement authorities suppressed those perceived to threaten the legitimacy or authority of the Chinese Communist Party.”

The State Department said China’s already poor human rights record deteriorated in 2006, with tightened restrictions on press and speech, government control of courts and judges, and endemic corruption.

The report also noted there were an increased number of cases in which officials harassed and arrested reporters, activists and defense lawyers seeking to exercise their lawful rights.

China said the U.S. should pay more attention to its domestic human rights situation.

“It’s the consensus of the international community that the U.S is not qualified to be the ‘human rights guard’ at all,” Qin said. “We strongly advise it to focus more on human rights problems within its own boundary and stop its erroneous activities of interfering in other countries’ domestic affairs with the excuse of human rights.”

Last month, China issued a report in response to U.S. criticism of Beijing’s human rights record in which it accused Washington of trampling on Iraq’s sovereignty, and said the United States used its campaign against terrorism as an excuse to torture people around the world and violate the rights of its own citizens.

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