U.S. human rights report reveals hypocrisy, double standards: FM spokesperson

China on Wednesday said it deplores and firmly opposes the China-related content in the 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices and relevant remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, which have revealed hypocrisy and double standards of the U.S.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a regular press briefing when asked to comment on the report released by the U.S. Department of State on Tuesday, which attacked China's political system and human rights situation.

"The content related to China in the so-called Country Reports on Human Rights Practices and relevant remarks by Secretary Antony Blinken misrepresent facts, confuse wrong with right, and are rife with political lies and ideological bias. China deplores and firmly opposes it," Zhao said in response.

Zhao said the Chinese people can judge China's human rights situation better than others, and the international community has long come to a conclusion about China's governance. Such facts cannot possibly be denied by a report or the remarks of certain people.

"The U.S. government slanders and denigrates China and attacks other places in the world by releasing this report every year, attempting to style itself as a human rights judge and role model. This only serves to reveal its hypocrisy and double standards," Zhao said.

Zhao said that United States' human rights protection promises are empty and have never been fulfilled domestically. He said that the U.S. government, rather than fighting COVID-19, has been seeking political manipulation, instigating the "lab leak" theory and allowing racism to spawn alongside the virus, which has resulted in the frequent occurrence of anti-Asian hate crimes.

The persistent discriminatory migration policy in the U.S. has limited the living space for migrants from Latin America, Asia and Africa to an extreme. The policy of separating migrant children from their families gravely threatens the lives, dignity and freedom of migrants, as is the case with extended custody, cruel torture, forced labor and many other inhumane treatments. Pervasive gun violence, the denial of justice in law enforcement and prisoner abuse have left U.S. residents living in fear for their security, Zhao said.

"Externally, human rights protection is a pretense the U.S. government uses to cover up its agenda of seeking hegemony," Zhao said, noting that in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria alone, more than 20 million people have become refugees and migrants as a result of subversion and wars launched by the U.S.

The spokesperson said that the so-called counterterrorism wars waged by the U.S. have claimed over 900,000 lives, and U.S. military operations in Afghanistan not only cost the lives of over 100,000 people, but also saw the U.S. loot 7 billion U.S. dollars from the Afghan people.

The U.S. network of secret prisons across the globe has created human rights tragedies that have each set off uproar in the international community, Zhao said. At a time when the global economy is suffering from the impact of COVID-19, the U.S. continues to use human rights as an excuse to wantonly pressure and threaten countries by imposing sanctions, he said.

"This has not only aggravated the human rights crises in relevant countries, but also endangered global economic recovery and the stability of industrial and supply chains," Zhao said.

"The U.S. should immediately cease making irresponsible remarks, attacking and slandering other countries' human rights situations. Instead, it needs to reflect on itself, mend its ways, and work earnestly to improve its own human rights situation and promote the international human rights cause," Zhao said.