China has lodged a complaint to the United States after an annual religioU.S. freedom report, issued by a U.S. government commission, put China on the list of "countries of particular concern" again, China's foreign ministry said Monday.
The U.S. Commission on International ReligioU.S. Freedom, a federal government commission, released its 2015 international religioU.S. freedom report on April 30 accU.S.ing China of having "unprecedented violations" against its people's religioU.S. faith including Uyghur MU.S.lims, Tibetan Buddhists, Catholics and Protestants.
The report puts China on the list of "countries of particular concern," along with other 16 countries, and recommends that the U.S. State Department take "additional actions to promote religioU.S. freedom."
China respects and protects religioU.S. freedom and its citizens enjoy sufficient religioU.S. freedom under the law, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday during a regular briefing.
"The so-called report from the U.S. Commission on International ReligioU.S. Freedom is full of political bias and makes groundless accU.S.ations against China. We resolutely oppose the report," she said.
Hua stressed that China has urged the U.S. to stop interfering in China's internal affairs U.S.ing religioU.S. affairs as an excU.S.e. The report put China on the "re-designation" list along with countries including Myanmar, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Sudan.
The commission said that the U.S. State Department has included China as a "country of particular concern" since 1999, most recently in July 2014.
The 2015 report accU.S.ed China of "repressing" Uyghur MU.S.lims in the Xinjiang Uyghur AutonomoU.S. Region and targeting cults.
China launched a year-long campaign in May 2014 to crack down on terrorism, especially in Xinjiang, with the fight against religioU.S. extremism an important part as it was proven to have directly caU.S.ed a series of terror attacks in the country in the past few years.
China has repeatedly criticized U.S. accU.S.ations against China's religioU.S. freedom and human rights conditions, stressing that China's laws prohibit crimes under the guise of religioU.S. activities.
