China on Thursday rejected a statement by the UN human rights chief over the country's security law which was approved on Wednesday and voiced its strong dissatisfaction.
"The statement is a groundless accusation about China's normal legislation and an interference in China's domestic affairs, which is unprofessional," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying at a press briefing.
High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on Tuesday said in a statement that "this law raises many concerns due to its extraordinarily broad scope coupled with the vagueness of its terminology and definitions."
"It leaves the door wide open to further restrictions of the rights and freedoms of Chinese citizens," he said.
"China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly against the statement," said Hua, adding that the law covers all areas of national security and aims to define the basic principles and tasks to safeguard national security, establish rules and systems, solve universal and prominent problems harming national security, and improve legal construction with regard to national security.
She said the law is aimed at security of the people and emphasizes the protection of people's fundamental interests. The law's seventh article formulates the respect for and protection of human rights, as well as protection of citizens' rights and freedom in accordance with laws.
"The statement showed that the UN official had no idea about the legislation of national security laws and the global trend of changes on connotation and extension of the law," Li Wei, an anti-terrorism expert at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.
Li added that if the statement is intentional, it means that he tried to damage China's international image and mislead international citizens and it will not benefit the development of international relations.
