China hits back, accuses US of rights abuses

CHINA: China accused the United States of hypocrisy on Thursday in its annual response to Washington’s criticism of Beijing’s human rights record, saying it had no right to blacken the name of other countries.

“As in previous years, the State Department pointed the finger at human rights conditions in more than 190 countries and regions, including China, but avoided touching on the human rights situation in the United States,” said the report, extracts of which were carried by the official Xinhua news agency.

China hopes its report will “help people have a better understanding of the situation in the United States and promote the international cause of human rights”, Xinhua said.

“Relying on its strong military power, the United States has trespassed on the sovereignty of other countries and violated human rights in other countries,” Xinhua quoted the document as saying, released by the State Council, or cabinet.

It cited foreign media reports in detailing the number of civilian deaths in Iraq.

“The document says the United States has a flagrant record of violating the Geneva Convention in systematically abusing prisoners during the Iraqi war and the war in Afghanistan,” Xinhua said.

The report also took aim at crime, civil rights infringements and racism in the United States.

“The ethnic minorities are at the bottom of American society,” Xinhua quoted the report as saying.

“Racial discrimination is also deep-rooted in America’s law enforcement and judicial systems,” Xinhua added.

“The document says the United States has lorded it over other countries by condemning their human rights practices while ignoring its own problems, which exposes double standards and hegemony in the field of human rights,” the agency added.

The State Council’s Information Office said it was not immediately able to provide an original copy of the report.

Meanwhile the Brazilian government rejected a human rights report by the United States government this week as illegitimate and one-sided.

The rebuff precedes U.S. President George W. Bush’s meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Sao Paulo on Friday. Their talks are to focus on cooperation to forge a global ethanol market.

“The Brazilian government reiterates that it does not recognize the legitimacy of unilateral reports by countries, which use domestic criteria, often politically inspired,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Brazil was open to dialogue with all international and regional forums on human rights, the statement said.

“In the United Nations Human Rights Council we have defended the practice of impartial monitoring, such as the global report of the U.N. High Commissioner,” the ministry said.

The U.S. State Department report published on Tuesday said the federal government of Brazil generally respected the human rights of its citizens. But it found “numerous serious abuses,” including beatings, abuse, and torture of detainees and inmates by police and prison security forces.

Beijing, Brasilia, Thursday, Reuters