US official says China’s rights record getting worse

Human rights conditions in China are worsening, a senior US official said on Friday, accusing Beijing of harassing activists’ family members and repressing ethnic and religious minorities.

“We continue to see a deterioration in the overall human rights situation in China,” said Uzra Zeya, acting assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labour.

Zeya was briefing reporters after she led Washington’s delegation to a US-China Human Rights Dialogue meeting held earlier this week in the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming.

She mentioned Nobel Peace Prize-winning dissident Liu Xiaobo and human rights advocate Chen Guangcheng as examples of activists whose families have been victimised.

“This is a worrisome trend and one which we have raised at senior levels with the Chinese government,” she said.

Zeya also cited China’s policies towards ethnic and religious minorities such as Buddhist Tibetans and Muslim Uygurs, “particularly with respect to repressive measures related to religious practice”.

China is sensitive to criticism of its human rights record and counters that the US has plenty of problems of its own.