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 In a lengthy report carried by the official Xinhua news agency,
the information office of the State Council, or cabinet, said the
United States "violated human rights in other countries in a more
brazen manner, and was given more 'red cards' in the international
human rights field".
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.
On Thursday, the U.S. State Department released its annual report on
human rights conditions in the world. In the China section of the
report, it said repression and coercion were routine against
activists, ethnic minorities and law firms that took on sensitive
cases.
Senior leaders in China periodically promise citizens democracy and
human rights, but the last two years under President Xi Jinping's
administration have been marked by a sweeping crackdown on
dissidents and activists.
China has long rejected criticism of its rights' record and has
pointed to its success at lifting millions out of poverty.
The State Council report was "an equal and mutually beneficial way
of reciprocating" the United States, Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily briefing.
The State Department report came in the same week that the United
States and China held three days of high-level talks in Washington.
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The Chinese report, which was mostly compiled from U.S. media
articles, said "racial discrimination has been a chronic problem in
the United States human rights record", adding that the United
States suppressed the voting rights of minorities.
"In 2014, multiple cases of arbitrary police killing of
African-Americans have sparked huge waves of protests, casting
doubts on the racial 'equality' in the United States and giving rise
to racial hatred factors," the report said.
The report also criticized the United States for conducting
surveillance on world leaders and civilians and for allowing a few
interest groups to influence the government's decision-making.
Many Chinese Internet users disparaged the Chinese report, mocking
the government for the accusations against the United States
"Our concern is when will China have human rights, rather than the
state of U.S. human rights," said a microblogger named Zhou Pidong.
(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee, Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard;
Editing by Ryan Woo)
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