US should earnestly tackle its deteriorating human rights situation: FM spokesperson

BEIJING - The United States is becoming a country where human rights are systemically violated, and it should earnestly reflect on how to address the root causes of the deteriorating human rights situation, a Chinese spokesperson said on Monday.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks when asked to comment on the killing of a man of African descent by a white police officer during a law enforcement operation in Michigan. The incident once again sparked fierce criticism over racial discrimination and police violence in the United States.

"We are deeply concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation in the US. A large number of facts show that racial discrimination, gun crimes and violence in law enforcement do not exist in isolated and sporadic cases, but are long-term and systemic problems in the country," Wang said.

Since the death of George Floyd in 2020, hundreds of people of ethnic minorities have been gunned down by US law enforcement officers. As many as 93.7 percent of American Muslims said that they live in the shadow of Islamophobia; 81 percent of Asian American adults believe that violence against them is on the rise. Hispanic Americans, who make up 19 percent of the US population, own only 2 percent of US wealth, according to Wang.

The spokesperson quoted Fernand de Varennes, the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, as saying that the legal system in the United States is structurally set up to advantage and forgive those who are wealthier, and penalize those who are poorer, particularly ethnic minorities.

The United States also has the worst gun violence in the world and is the only developed country that witnessed mass shootings every year over the past 20 years. In 2020, there were 45,222 gun-related deaths in the country, a 43 percent increase from 2010, Wang said.

"Yet over the past 25 years, the US federal government has failed to introduce a gun control act," Wang said.

"The US is in no position to point fingers at other countries' human rights conditions. What the US should do is to face up to its own serious human rights problems, and earnestly reflect on how to address the root causes of the deteriorating human rights situation," he said.