China releases report on US human rights situation

China has published a report on the human rights situation in the US, which exposed Washington's human rights violations in such areas as the prevalence of money politics, rising income inequality and worsening racial discrimination.

The report, titled "Human Rights Record of the United States in 2018" was released by the Information Office of the State Council on Thursday.

It said the US government, a self-styled "human rights defender", has a human rights record which is flawed and lackluster, and the double standards of human rights it pursues are obvious.

According to the report, the US 2018 midterm elections cost a huge quantity of money as elections in the country became games of money, with much involvement of "dark money" and corruption.

It said that gun violence continued to be rampant in the US. Data from the Gun Violence Archive showed the US reported 57,103 incidents of gun violence in 2018, resulting in 14,717 deaths and 28,172 injuries, including 3,502 juvenile casualties.

Noting that systematic racial discrimination had long existed in the US, the report said racial discrimination in the US was worsening and drew criticism from the United Nations.

The high incidence of school shootings, widespread school violence and lack of effective government oversight of child abuse has threatened children in the US physically and mentally, it said.

Moreover, US women faced severe threats in terms of sexual harassment and sexual assault, with personal safety lacking protection, said the report, adding that they also faced obvious discrimination in employment and the workplace.

As for US immigration policies, the report said the US government used slander and violence against immigrants, noting that inhumane immigration policies have forcibly separated migrant children from their parents.

The report also criticized Washington's unilateral policies.

The US shirked international responsibilities, carried out unilateralist "America First" policies unscrupulously, withdrew from international organizations, bullied the weak, and caused human rights disasters in its overseas military operations, the report said.

China's report came after the US State Department on Wednesday released the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2018, in which it highlighted China's alleged human rights issues.

Speaking at a regular news conference on Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang asked Washington to stop interfering in Beijing's domestic affairs.

"The China-related part of the report is the same as it was in the previous years. It is full of ideological prejudice, disregards the facts and confuses right and wrong," Lu said, adding that the accusations against China are groundless.

China is firmly opposed to the report and has made stern representations with the US side, he said.

China urged the US to take off its tinted glasses, abandon the cold-war mentality as well as ideological prejudice, and treat China's human rights situation in an objective and fair way, he said.

Lu said China has made many achievements in its human rights cause, especially since the launch of reform and opening-up in 1978, which has also been witnessed by the international community.

"We also persuade the US to take a good look at its own domestic human rights record, and take care of its own affairs first of all," he added.

China Daily - Xinhua