Chinese religious leaders have dismissed the US State Department's annual report on religious freedom by saying it defies facts and interferes with China's internal affairs.

"We religious people in China do not agree with the report, which messed up right with wrong and rudely interfered with China's internal affairs,'' said Liu Yuanren, head of the Chinese Bishops' Council.

He said Catholic followers have been living happy lives over the past two decades since China's reform and opening-up policies were initiated.

Imam Chen Guangyuan, president of the Islamic Association of China, said the religious beliefs and lives of the nation's 20 million Muslims are protected by law.

The government's lawful ban on the Falun Gong cult shows the responsibility it accepts on behalf of its people, he added.

Xue Cheng, deputy secretary-general of the China Buddhists' Association, said the United States has been applying double standards on religious or human rights issues around the world.

The US State Department released the International Religious Freedom Report 2003 at the weekend. The Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed "strong displeasure at and resolute objection to it.''

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