- Title: CHINA-USA/RIGHTS China says U.S.' own human rights problems expose hypocrisy
- Date: 11th December 2014
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (DECEMBER 11, 2014) (REUTERS) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN HONG LEI WALKING IN FOR REGULAR NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN HONG LEI SAYING: "A country's people have the best right to speak about their human rights situation. The United States has no right to pose itself as an arbiter and at every turn point their finger at other countries' human rights, as racism and mistreatment of prisoners and other serious human rights violation problems in the United States are facts now known to all." JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN HONG LEI SAYING: "The United States is not looking at the facts and is intentionally smearing China's rights situation, exposing the U.S.' hypocrisy and double standards on the issue of human rights even more. We advise the U.S. side to reflect on and correct its own human rights problems and stop their unwarranted attacks on China." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS EXTERIOR OF CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY CHINESE NATIONAL FLAG FLYING
- Embargoed: 26th December 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- City:
- Country: China
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAC81SJVH1FS1X2TB6YTNI563QI
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- Story Text: China's foreign ministry said on Thursday (December 11) the United States' problems with racism and mistreatment of prisoners negated its ability to criticise other countries, following renewed concern from Washington about Beijing's human rights.
Both U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. ambassador to China Max Baucus issued statements on Wednesday (December 10) to mark International Human Rights Day in which they mentioned cases such as the imprisoned Chinese Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said it was hypocritical of the United States to do this considering its own poor record, in apparent reference to recent protests over the killings of unarmed black men and a U.S. Senate report on the torture of detainees after the September 11 attacks.
"A country's people have the best right to speak about their human rights situation. The United States has no right to pose itself as an arbiter and at every turn point their finger at other countries' human rights, as racism and mistreatment of prisoners and other serious human rights violation problems in the United States are facts now known to all." Hong told a regular briefing in Beijing.
Hong said the U.S was ignoring the facts about the great strides China has made to improve human rights.
"The United States is not looking at the facts and is intentionally smearing China's rights situation, exposing the U.S.' hypocrisy and double standards on the issue of human rights even more. We advise the U.S. side to reflect on and correct its own human rights problems and stop their unwarranted attacks on China." he added.
China and the United States often spar about each other's human rights records, and on Wednesday Beijing urged Washington to "correct its ways" following the torture report.
China's criticism of the United States has come in the same week that a Chinese court handed down sentences of up to eight years in prison to seven students of jailed scholar Ilham Tohti, a member of the Muslim Uighur minority, in the western region of Xinjiang, in a case that has attracted concern in the West. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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