China slams US with counter human rights report
A day after the US released its country report, China answers back with its own, calling the US 'a country with grim problems'
BEIJING
China has slammed the United States in a human rights report, the day after the U.S. took a snap at Bejing in its own.
State-news agency Xinhua reported that China's Information Office had released "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2014" on Friday, in which it condemned the U.S. for its human rights practices.
"The U.S., a self-proclaimed human rights defender, saw no improvements in its existent human rights issues, but reported numerous new problems," it said the report had stated.
It accused the U.S. of violating human rights "in a more brazen manner", and added that it had been given "more red cards in the international human rights field", referring to the killing of 18-year-old American Michael Brown in August 2014.
"The U.S. was haunted by spreading guns, frequent occurrence of violent crimes, which threatened citizens' civil rights," it continued, detailing a litany of abuses.
"The excessive use of force by police officers led to many deaths, sparking public outcry... The U.S. is a country with grim problems of racial discrimination, and institutional discrimination against ethnic minorities continued... The U.S. used cruel tortures indiscriminately, notably those carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)."
On Thursday, the U.S. published a Human Rights report in which it said in China "repression and coercion were routine, particularly against organizations and individuals involved in civil and political rights advocacy and public interest issues, ethnic minorities, and law firms that took on sensitive cases."
Under sections titled "Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life", "Disappearance" and "Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment" it listed other Chinese offences.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday that countries such as China, India and Egypt "continued to stifle free and open media and the development of civil society through the imprisonment of journalists, bloggers, and non-violent critics”.
