China refutes US criticism of human rights

BEIJING - China on Friday refuted criticism on its human rights situation from a US State Department official, urging the country to focus more on its own human rights improvement.

"No country owns a perfect human rights situation. The United States is also facing serious problems in its judiciary, rights for aboriginal people and racial discrimination. We hope the US side would put more effort into examining and improving its own human rights situation," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei.

Hong made the remarks in response to a comment from US Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Michael Posner, who said the overall human rights situation in China has continued to deteriorate, after the two-day China-US Human Rights Dialogue in Washington.

Hong voiced "dissatisfaction and firm opposition" to the country's "groundless attack" against China's human rights situation after the dialogue.

He said the dialogue was conducted in the spirit of equality and mutual trust, in which the US side acknowledged the new achievements China has scored in human rights areas and thought the dialogue had been candid, open and constructive.

"The Chinese people are best qualified to judge China's human rights situation," Hong said.

He added that China has witnessed fast economic growth, continuous improvement of people's livelihood and unprecedented rights and basic freedom for citizens since its reform and opening up.

"We hope the US would view China's human rights situation in a comprehensive, objective and fair way, and play a constructive role in the sound development of the China-US Human Rights Dialogue," the spokesman said.

The dialogue was held from Monday to Tuesday. The two sides exchanged views on human rights and other related issues, according to Hong.