Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/2913985.stm
Published: 2003/04/03 16:48:09
China criticises US 'rights abuses'
The Chinese Government has published a report attacking the United
States
for its human rights practices both at home and abroad, according
to the
official Xinhua news agency.
The report accuses the US of criticising
other countries while turning a
blind eye to its own human rights violations, such as its current
attack on
Iraq.
The Chinese report comes just days after the US state department
published
its own annual assessment of the human rights situation in 196
countries
around the world.
That report included criticism of China, particularly
its treatment of the
Falun Gong spiritual movement.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman
Liu Jianchao said the US should think
more about its own problems and stop intervening in other countries'
domestic affairs, according to Xinhua.
'Violations'
The report, published by China's State Council, points
to problem areas in
the US such as violent crime, poverty and sexual abuse.
According to the official People's Daily newspaper, the report
says the US
war against Iraq openly violates the purpose and principle
of the United
Nations Charter.
The publication -the Human Rights Record of the United
States in 2002 -
also says rights in the US have been challenged since the
11 September 2001
attacks .
It says US law enforcement agencies now have greater powers
to monitor
their own citizens.
There have also been restrictions on press freedom since
11 September and a
rise in racial discrimination, particularly against Muslims
and Arabs, it
claims.
The Chinese report has been published annually over recent
years, partly in
response to US criticism of China.
