China hits back at ‘prejudiced’ US over rights criticism – and says White House is curbing press freedom
- Beijing dismisses attack on human rights violations by highlighting US gun crime, racism and government attacks on journalists
- Annual report unveiled by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had described treatment of Muslims as ‘something that has not been seen since 1930s’
China hit back on Thursday in unusually strong terms – citing poor media freedoms, racism and “ideological prejudice” – after the US State Department slammed China’s rights record, equating abuses of its Muslim minorities with the 1930s.
Michael Kozak, the head of the State Department’s human rights and democracy bureau, said mistreatment of China’s Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang region was like something that hadn’t been seen “since the 1930s”, apparently referring to Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union.
Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the US report was as usual filled with “ideological prejudice” and groundless accusations, and that China had lodged a complaint with Washington about it.
He insisted that China fully safeguards human rights and China has made many achievements in this regard.