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| China fires back at US human rights criticisms |
| 15-MAR-2010 Intellasia | AP |
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| 15 Mar, 2010 - 7:00:00 AM |
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China accused the United States of destabilising the world economy and meddling in other countries' affairs Friday — its standard response to Washington's annual review of Beijing's human rights record.
The US State Department report issued Thursday accused Beijing of abusing its citizens' rights and maintaining currency policies that cost millions of US jobs.
In response, China's State Council, or Cabinet, accused Washington of using human rights as a "political instrument" to defame other countries and took aim at the United States' contribution in fomenting the global financial crisis.
"At a time when the world is suffering a serious human rights disaster caused by the US sub-prime crisis-induced global financial crisis, the US government still ignores its own serious human rights problems but revels in accusing other countries. It is really a pity," said a report issued by the council's information office.
The Chinese response touched on America's gun crime and prison population and alleged rising problems with crime, poverty, homelessness and "chronic" racial discrimination. It called US college campuses unsafe and said spying on US citizens by their government had reached unprecedented levels.
The nearly 10,000-word report accused Washington of using both military force and cultural and economic infiltration to dominate global affairs and interfere, singling out civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"The United States with its strong military power has pursued hegemony in the world, trampling upon the sovereignty of other countries and trespassing their human rights," the report said.
"The United States monopolises the strategic resources of the global Internet, and has been retaining a tight grip over the Internet ever since its first appearance," it added.
The report repeated a recent accusation that US calls for China and other nations to lift tight controls on Internet content were merely part of a campaign to establish US cultural domination. The claim first surfaced earlier this year amid a dispute with Google Inc. over censorship and hacking accusations.
As is routine, it offered sweeping statements that often mirrored charges in the US report.
"In the United States, civil and political rights of citizens are severely restricted and violated by the government," read one statement. "Workers' rights were seriously violated," said another.
While the US report is drawn largely from the work of rights groups and American diplomats, China's response mainly cited US media reports as evidence of its claims, along with data from non-governmental organisations and federal and state governments.
China's Communist Party propaganda bosses exercise strict control over the entirely state-owned media and allow little reporting on rights abuses and other sensitive topics. The one-party state also permits no independent rights monitoring groups and its own reports on the domestic human rights situation are typically glowing, focussing on the growing economy and numbers lifted out of poverty.
The pattern of the dueling reports has lasted 11 years, although this year's follows a period of heightened friction over issues including Taiwan, Tibet and trade. The administration of President Barack Obama seems increasingly willing to confront China, after a year in which a lighter approach to Beijing yielded few gains.
As in past years, China's report accused Washington of criticising others while turning a blind eye to its own problems, ignoring the numerous reviews of domestic rights issued by the administration and Congress, as well as the work of organisations such as the American Civil Liberties Union.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100312/ap_on_re_as/as_china_us
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