West not the guardian of human rights

US not a paragon of virtue

China expressed firm opposition to and will never accept the recent criticism of its human rights record by the United States and 11 other countries at the UN Human Rights Council, said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei on Friday.

The US-led ruse, designed to serve the 12 countries' political interests, has severely infringed on China's domestic affairs and judicial sovereignty. It has also violated the purpose of the Human Rights Council, which was established in 2006 to uphold global human rights, not politicize them.

The 12 countries are not immune from human rights violations. For example, the US government cannot claim to have lived up to its human rights commitment to the international community. At least 15 US journalists were arrested for reporting on the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, and the subsequent protests when the white policeman who killed the unarmed black teenager was not indicted. Similar abuse of force is not rare among US police officers: Over 940 civilians were killed last year by police in the US, with 32 being unarmed African Americans.

The worldwide surveillance by the US National Security Agency, which was revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, even covered some US allies including Germany and Japan, as well as their top leaders, diplomatic institutions, and civilians. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also forced Internet firms to submit their customers' information, even their browsing history, without legal approval.

In addition, Washington is yet to shut down its notorious detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, where many foreign suspects are being illegally detained and tortured, despite frequent condemnation from the international community.

The US political system, meanwhile, has descended to a "give-and-take" game with just a few players. It is estimated that no less than 200 politically active enterprises spent a total of $5.8 billion on lobbying and campaign donations. In return, they gained some $4.4 trillion from the federal government's endorsements of their businesses.

In the meantime, some states have imposed a variety of restrictions on local voters, leading to a record-low average turnout since the 1940s in the country's 2014 mid-term election, about 37 percent.

That the US keeps tarnishing other countries' human rights in disregard of its own problems reflects the fact that it is not a "human rights guardian" as it likes to portray itself. It has no interest in improving the global human rights condition; its true intention is to undermine the stability and peace in certain countries.

Chang Jian is deputy director of the human rights study center at Nankai University, Tianjin.