China denounces US over human rights
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China has fired back at US criticism of its human rights record, issuing a report that denounced the United States for offences ranging from allowing crime and poverty at home to abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The report – issued annually in response to the US State Department’s global human rights survey – accused the American military of committing “wanton slaughters”, killing thousands of foreign civilians and torturing detainees. “The atrocity of US troops abusing Iraqi POWs exposed the infringement of human rights of foreign nationals by the United States,” said the report, released by the press office of China’s Cabinet. The US State Department report released on Monday accused China’s Communist government of persecuting dissidents and religious activists, and said prison inmates were tortured and mistreated. Washington is likely to again seek censure of China next month at the annual meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva. Past such motions to censure have been killed by China’s allies on the commission. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said the State Council report was “an alarm bell to get the United States to be alert to its own problems”. “The United States opted for this confrontational approach and China has to make a response,” he said. “The United States should take this seriously.” The Chinese report accused the United States of hypocrisy in condemning conditions in foreign nations while staying silent on its own. “In 2004, the atrocity of US troops abusing Iraqi POWs exposed the dark side of human rights performance of the United States. The scandal shocked the humanity and was condemned by the international community,” the report said. More : breakingnews.iol.ie |