U.S. should not go further down the wrong path: Chinese UN ambassador

China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Zhang Jun on Sunday resolutely refuted the unfounded accusations against China made by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. UN ambassador, in her interview with CNN.

In a press statement, Zhang said that the United States has again made accusations against China and wrongful, irresponsible remarks on issues like the Beijing Winter Olympics, Xinjiang and Taiwan. Such groundless, politically biased words have seriously poisoned the China-U.S. relations.

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics was attended by around 170 official representatives from nearly 70 countries and international organizations, including 31 heads of state or government, royal family members, and heads of international organizations, he said, noting that many more state leaders and heads of international organizations have called or sent messages to Chinese President Xi Jinping to wish the Beijing Winter Olympics a great success and the Chinese people a happy Lunar New Year.

This fully shows the international community's firm support for China, for the Beijing Winter Olympics, and for the Olympic Movement. The U.S. attempt to make an issue of the Olympic Games has won no support and met with complete failure. Athletes from China, the United States and other countries are competing fairly at the Beijing Winter Olympics. They are the ones that should be in the spotlight, and the U.S. politicians should have left the stage for them long ago, said Zhang.

The repeated lies by the United States about the "genocide" in Xinjiang have already been debunked by facts. People of all ethnic groups there are enjoying a peaceful, harmonious and happy life. In Team China, there are 20 athletes from nine ethnic minorities, including Uygur and Tibetan. One of them is Dinigeer Yilamujiang, a Uygur cross-country skier who lit the Olympic cauldron, he noted.

Taiwan is an inseparable part of the Chinese territory. The settlement of the Taiwan question is China's internal affairs and allows no interference by the United States or any other external forces. The future of Taiwan lies in national reunification, not some security guarantee from the United States. The United States should stop emboldening and supporting the "Taiwan independence" forces, follow the true one-China policy, and match its actions with words, he said.

The United States claims to care about human rights. Yet it has left a disgraceful human rights record, Zhang said.

With a population less than a quarter of China's, the United States has a staggering number of more than 900,000 deaths from COVID-19, and that figure is still increasing, almost 200 times the COVID-19 deaths in China. The United States is awash in gun violence, leaving its people with no sense of security. The systematic ethnic cleansing and massacre of the Native Americans throughout U.S. history is the real genocide and crime against humanity. The indiscriminate killing of civilians, including women and children, by the U.S. military in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq, has already constituted war crimes, said Zhang.

The United States is facing serious political, economic, social, security and public health issues. Under such circumstances, U.S. politicians need to heed the voice of the people and solve its own problems, instead of being trapped in the mindset of American supremacy over everything, still less shifting responsibilities, creating confrontations or obstructing other countries' development, he said.

"Here is my advice to the United States: Do not go further down the wrong path. It will not only make your own people suffer, but also create more trouble for other countries and the whole world," said the ambassador.