China criticises US human rights record

China says racial discrimination and police abuses are rife in the United States, in a report which counters US criticisms of China’s own human rights record.

In a report sourced mainly from US media, China said the US was “haunted by spreading guns, frequent occurrence of violent crimes, the excessive use of force by police”.

It said that US intelligence had used “indiscriminate” torture against terrorist suspects, while “violating human rights in other countries” with drone strikes and mass surveillance programmes.

The report also cited the killing of black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and other cases in which African Americans were shot and killed by white police officers.

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The document is released each year by China the day after the US state department issues its annual global human rights report. Beijing does not release rights reports on other countries.

Human rights have long been a source of tension between the world’s two largest economies, especially since 1989, when the US imposed sanctions on China after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

China has long rejected criticism of its rights’ record, saying providing food, clothing, housing and economic growth are far more relevant for developing countries, pointing to its success at lifting millions out of poverty.

Friday’s document, released by China’s State Council, or cabinet, largely cited US domestic media websites, including the New York Times, which is blocked by Beijing as part of its internet censorship programme.

Washington’s own report on Thursday said that in China “repression and coercion were routine, particularly against organisations and individuals involved in civil and political rights advocacy”.

It also noted Beijing’s continued repression of ethnic Uighurs and Tibetans.