China hits back with report on U.S. human rights record

China on Sunday retorted the U.S. criticism and distortions of its human rights situation by publishing a report of the U.S. human rights record.

The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2012 was released by the Information Office of China's State Council, or the Cabinet, in response to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 issued by the U.S. State Department.

China in the report argued that there are serious human rights problems in the U.S. which incur extensive criticism in the world, as it has posed as "the world judge of human rights" again.

"As in previous years, the reports are full of carping and irresponsible remarks on the human rights situation in more than 190 countries and regions including China," China said in its report. "However, the U.S. turned a blind eye to its own woeful human rights situation and never said a word about it."

CLOSER SURVEILLANCE OF CITIZENS

U.S. citizens' civil and political rights were further restricted by the government, the report says.

The U.S. government continues to step up surveillance of ordinary citizens, restricting and reducing the freedom of the U.S. society to a considerable extent, and seriously violating the freedom of citizens, according to the report.

The U.S. congress approved a bill in 2012 that authorized the government to conduct warrantless wiretapping and electronic communications monitoring, a move that violated people's rights to privacy.

According to documents released by the American Civil Liberties Union in last September, federal law enforcement agencies are increasingly monitoring American's electronic communications.

The National Security Agency collects purely domestic communications of Americans in a "significant and systematic" way, intercepting and storing 1.7 billion emails, phone calls and other types of communications every day, the report says.

Also, the police often abused their power, resulting in increasing complaints and charges for infringement upon civil rights, the report says.

The proportion of women in the victims of domestic violence and sexual assault kept increasing in the U.S., it adds.

MORE VIOLENT CRIMES INVOLVING GUNS

Firearms-related crimes posed serious threat to the lives and personal security of citizens in the U.S., the report says.

Last year, several shootings left astonishing casualties, such as the school shooting in Oakland, the Century 16 theater shooting in Colorado and the school shooting in Connecticut.

Americans are the most heavily armed people in the world per capita and firearms-related violent crimes posed as one of the most serious threats to the lives and personal security of the U.S. citizens, the report says.

According to a CNN report in last July, there were an estimated 270 million guns in the hands of civilians in the U.S. and more than 100,000 people were shot by guns each year. In 2010, there were more than 30,000 deaths caused by firearms.

However, the U.S. government has done little in gun control, the report says.