China urges Western countries to reflect deeply on their own human rights abuse: FM spokesperson

BEIJING - China and other developing countries have expressed concerns about the human rights situation in some Western countries at the ongoing 47th session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, urged them to take effective measures to solve their serious human rights problems at home, and opposed them for politicizing and adopting double standards on human rights issues, said a Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Friday, adding that this is the voice of justice.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily news briefing when asked to comment on some Western countries claiming that China's opposition to "microphone diplomacy" and non-interference in other countries' internal affairs "seems to have changed".

"I want to stress that it is these Western countries that are using human rights as an excuse to exert pressure and interfere in other countries' internal affairs based on political motivation, false information, lies and rumors. It is these Western countries that proclaim themselves to be 'judges', pointing fingers at and humiliating the human rights situation in developing countries, which violates the purposes and principles of the UN Charter," said Wang.

"They have claimed welcoming criticism from outside. However, when China and other developing countries express reasonable concerns about their human rights problems, they appear to be extremely uncomfortable or even unacceptable," said Wang, adding that their claim that China engaged in "microphone diplomacy" and "interference in internal affairs" were typical double standard behavior and fully reflected their deep-rooted arrogance, prejudice and hypocrisy.

"Why do they turn a blind eye to issues in Western countries such as the systematic discrimination against ethnic minorities including those from Asian and African descent, infringement on the rights of indigenous people, large-scale human rights violations in immigration detention centers, killing civilians in overseas military operations, military intervention resulting in a large number of civilian casualties and displacement and unilateral coercion measures that seriously damage human rights?" the spokesperson asked.

"Why do they never criticize their partners for this on the UN Human Rights Council? Why do they turn a deaf ear to the criticism of the international community?" Wang said, adding that the international community can see clearly whether these countries are real human rights defenders or politicizing human rights issues.

China urges these countries to earnestly respond to the concerns of the international community, deeply reflect on their own human rights abuses, face up to and resolve their own human rights issues, and stop deliberately using human rights as an excuse to interfere in other countries' internal affairs and harm other countries' interests without paying the price, said Wang.