From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Fri Mar 12 2010 - 08:53:41 EST
China rejects US rights report as 'political instrument'
- Foreign
2010-03-12 17:21
BEIJING, March 12 (AFP) - China on Friday rejected a US report criticising
Beijing's human rights record, lashing out at Washington for using the issue
as a "political instrument" to interfere in its affairs.
China's State Council, or cabinet, issued its own report on alleged US human
rights violations in retaliation after the US State Department singled out
Beijing for criticism in its annual worldwide rights report.
On Thursday, the US report slammed China's human rights record highlighting
increased repression in the restive Tibet and Xinjiang regions, and the
detention and harassment of activists.
"The government's human rights record remained poor and worsened in some
areas," the State Department said.
The angry Chinese reaction was the latest in a series of tit-for-tat
allegations by the two countries, whose relations have been badly strained
for months over trade and currency issues, Tibet, Taiwan and Internet
freedom.
"As in previous years, the (US) reports are full of accusations of the human
rights situation in more than 190 countries and regions including China, but
turn a blind eye to, or dodge and even cover up, rampant human rights abuses
on its own territory," the State Council said, according to Xinhua news
agency.
The State Council said the United States had used the rights issue as a
"political instrument to interfere in other countries' internal affairs,
defame other nations' image and seek its own strategic interests."
Beijing said the world was enduring a "serious human rights disaster" due to
the global financial slowdown -- recalling that it had been fuelled by the
US subprime mortgage crisis.
"The US government still ignores its own serious human rights problems but
revels in accusing other countries. It is really a pity," the Chinese
government report said.
Xinhua noted it was the 11th year running that China had issued its own
assessment of Washington's human rights record in response to the State
Department's annual report.
It accused the US of restricting citizens' rights, citing security measures
put in place after the 9/11 attacks as a breach of individual freedoms, and
said freedom of the press was "subordinate to its national interests".
China said workers' rights had been "seriously violated" in the United
States, citing press reports about unpaid overtime and wage cuts, and
lamented the increasing number of people without health insurance.
It also targeted the "abuse of power" of US law enforcement -- citing an
investigation of four Washington-area police officers on suspicion of taking
bribes to protect a gambling ring, and one case of police road rage.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----