CHINA:Civilian deaths in Iraq, child poverty, racism and the abuse of prisoners of war show how the US is being hypocritical when it criticises China for its human rights record, the Beijing government said as it issued its annual report dealing with US transgressions on human rights.
The report, issued by premier Wen Jiabao's office yesterday, illustrates how the US "war on terror" has made it easier for countries with questionable human rights records to fire back Washington's criticisms.
China insists human rights are a sovereignty issue and that no countries should not interfere in other nations' affairs. For the past 10 years, it has published a report in response to the US State Department's annual human rights report, issued on Tuesday.
"As in previous years, the State Department pointed the finger at human rights conditions in more than 190 countries and regions, including China, but avoided touching on the human rights situation in the United States," it said.
The Beijing government is touchy about human rights issue. Its line is that China is in a transitional phase, that the most basic human right is economic wellbeing and that a certain level of welfare must be guaranteed before other human rights can be secured.
This year's report detailed what it called abuses committed by US troops and intelligence agents against terrorist suspects in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanámo Bay. It also said Washington was spying more and more on its own citizens by monitoring their telephone calls, computer connections and travels.
"The report is like a mirror for America to look at its own human rights conditions and to see what qualification it has to make criticism and to interfere in other countries with the excuses of human rights," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.
The report sourced its cases of abuse from western media reports, statistics, the US government and, ironically given their tough line on China, groups like Amnesty International.