China Lambasts U.S. Rights Policies After U.S. State Department Report

Reuters, 14/04 11:34 CET

BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. rights policies have gone from bad to worse, China said on Thursday, in its annual rebuttal of a State Department report on human rights around the world that criticised China’s “severe” crackdown on lawyers.

The U.S. “wantonly infringed upon” civil rights and faced “rampant gun-related crime”, said the lengthy report, issued by China’s State Council, or cabinet, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

Human rights have long been a source of tension between the world’s two largest economies, especially since 1989, when the United States imposed sanctions on China after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

China’s report follows Wednesday’s release of the U.S. report, which criticised Beijing’s “severe” crackdown on Chinese lawyers and law firms handling cases China considers politically sensitive.

The U.S. report described human rights policies in 199 countries, and also focussed on rights abuses in the Middle East.

Click here for the full article. 

Source: Euronews